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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23297143">Cajamarca</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrashingPetals/pseuds/CrashingPetals'>CrashingPetals</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Vivicendium Universe [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Bill thinks he's in love with Fleur but he's not, F/M, Josie Devonport is cursed on the job, Order of the Phoenix - Freeform, Ricardo is everything I never knew I wanted in an oc you will love him desperately, South American temples, bad luck follows her everywhere, because I have decided to tamper with his life, best friends-turned-lovers, bill weasley/oc - Freeform, curse-breaker lifestyle, myths surrounding Conquistadors and Incan gold, sexy Peruvians abound, side story of Vivicendium</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 11:55:28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>183,347</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23297143</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrashingPetals/pseuds/CrashingPetals</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s been one year since Josie returned from Peru, eight months since Bill began dating Fleur Delacour, and one too many days since the ancient Incan curse she received during her travels began to manifest itself.  Turning to a Knockturn Alley shopkeeper for help is probably not a good idea, but Josie is too prideful to tell her best friend, Bill Weasley, why she’s been avoiding him.  After all, he’s probably too busy being crazy in love with his new fiancée to notice that she’s even been cursed in the first place.  The more she turns to dark magic to break her curse, however, the worse it gets, until at last she realizes that she’s been looking for answers in all the wrong places.  Beware the cost of greed, for it can come in many forms.  </p><p>Bill Weasley/OC</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Bill Weasley/Original Female Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Vivicendium Universe [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1768132</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>237</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>275</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Josie's Words of Wisdom:</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Welcome to Cajamarca! Here are a few things to take note of before you begin reading:</p><p>This is a Bill Weasley/OC story, because for some reason I always end up becoming randomly obsessed with writing stories for side-characters who no one else reads fanfics for. I don't expect that this story will have a large audience, but I hope those who do love Bill and appreciate an OC story will enjoy this one!</p><p>For those who are reading Vivicendium, this story will eventually connect with Season 3, which is as of yet unwritten. Some easter eggs will be sprinkled into the latter chapters of this story in regards to Vivian and Sirius's future journey.</p><p>There will not be a large focus on Voldemort/Death Eater activities in this story, as it focuses more on Josie's personal journey. Though, as mentioned above and because this story will eventually connect with Vivicendium, the Order of the Phoenix will gradually become more prevalent as the story moves forward.</p><p>This story is only about 20 chapters long; one of several 'side stories' that I'll eventually be writing for the Vivicendium universe.  If people enjoy reading Bill and Josie's story, I may either include scenes of them in Vivicendium Season 3, and/or I may write an equally brief sequel piece that will be more focused on Voldemort and Bill and Josie's personal story within the Order of the Phoenix. That's only if people want to read more about them, so if you end up liking this story, please let me know! :)</p><p>I will most likely be updating this story every Tuesday for the time being, though that may change in the future depending on my weekly updates for Vivicendium.</p><p>I hope you all enjoy and please let me know what you think of this first chapter! I'm very curious to hear everyone's thoughts on this new idea.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  <strong>Chapter One | Josie's Words of Wisdom</strong>
</p><p>Josie Devonport would like to give you a bit of advice. She wishes someone had told <em>her</em> this all those years ago, when she had still been an ungainly Hogwarts student still growing into herself. Maybe if she had more female friends back then, one of them would have knocked some sense into her before it was too late, but alas, she had been more interested in talking Quidditch with the lads than exchanging beauty tips with her dormmates. Maybe everything would have been different, even. She would have realized the danger she was steadily walking into and stopped herself. She could have saved herself years of pain.</p><p>Josie wouldn't claim to be very wise, but she has learned a thing or two in her twenty-five years. For example, going commando is absolutely never a good idea, no matter <em>how</em> sexy that random bloke from the pub says it is. You ought not ever mix Gigglewater and firewhiskey unless you want to spend the next day vomiting up your insides. Apparition can be safely achieved three shots in, but more alcohol than that and you're likely to end up arse-over-tits in a pond somewhere. Leather jackets should always be worn, regardless of season or purpose; the right clothes can make or break your confidence. If you want something, you can't sit on your arse waiting for the world to hand it to you. Her dad gave her that one, along with the all-powerful 'if you can't cut an onion up without magic, then you can't do anything, Josie'. Then again, her dad's a muggle restaurateur, so he's a tad bit biased.</p><p>Anyway, back to her words of wisdom. The most important piece of advice that Josie Devonport would like to bestow is this: you should <em>never</em> fall in love with your best friend. It's always going to end in misery.</p><p>She remembers when she felt the first bolt of jealousy for Fleur Delacour. It was precisely eight and a half months ago, and she had just returned from another expedition to South America. Breaking the complicated network of curses surrounding the Incan temple she had been assigned to had been wonderfully challenging. She'd gotten back to England riding high from success and had swaggered into Gringotts with the pockets of her leather jacket laden with treasure, expecting a warm welcome from her best friend and fellow curse-breaker. She had been over the moon when Bill had first told her that he'd be moving back to England permanently. It meant more time that they could spend together, more memories that they could make, and more of his heart-melting smiles to keep her warm. Apparently, it also meant that he was ready to settle down. She knew, just by looking into Bill's eyes as he spoke to the new blonde-haired secretary across the lobby of the bank, that he had someone in mind to settle down with, but it wasn't her.</p><p>Bill has a way of seeing people. He can give you one look and know if you're someone he wants to share his time with. One look is all it takes. She knows this, because Bill Weasley has been her best friend for as long as she can remember. Well, that was before Fleur Delacour, anyway. These days, she isn't sure she could make such a claim. She hasn't had a proper conversation with Bill in months.</p><p>"Wotcher, Devonport!" Artemis Fincher greets as she just barely makes it to the lift on time. The fifty-year-old sends her a warm smile that she hurriedly returns.</p><p>He's one of the senior curse-breakers at Gringotts and happens to be her immediate superior. He was Josie's mentor when she first landed her job at Gringotts after graduating from Hogwarts. Artie is the sort of man who never lets anything get to him and had been quick to brush off the many mistakes she had made during her first few months. That's not to say that he goes easy on her or anything, but he isn't the sort of person who turns to anger whenever he's stressed. He's always reminded her of Arthur Weasley in temperament, actually: quick to laugh, kindhearted, and easy to talk to. Bill had been so jealous that she had the good fortune to have been assigned to him. It's funny, really, how her good fortune seems to have completely disappeared since then.</p><p>Her arms are full of paperwork and, to be honest, she's a bit surprised that she made the lift before the doors had shut in her face. These days, bad luck follows her everywh –</p><p>"Bloody hell," Josie exclaims as she shuffles back and trips over Artie's shoe. The heavy stack of paperwork that she spent all night organizing immediately tilts out of her hands and crashes to the floor. She stares down at the mess in horror.</p><p>At her side, Artie grimaces and mutters, "I don't suppose that's for the Hatshepsut case, is it?"</p><p>Josie's only response is to let out a stream of profanities as she crouches down to collect the papers. Artie grimaces again and goes to help.</p><p>She's only just been assigned to assist with the Hatshepsut case earlier that week. Ancient Egypt is more in line with Bill's expertise and she's had to clock in more time doing research than usual. Give her a case for an Aztec temple and she can solve it in a matter of days, but Egypt isn't really her thing. She suspects it's all the mummies-turned-Inferi that have a tendency of hobbling around their tombs. Anyway, the point is that after spending the entire week brushing up on her ancient Egyptian history, the hard-earned research that she needs for today's meeting is now scattered across the floor of a lift that hasn't been properly mopped in months.</p><p>If only that was the least of her problems today. As she's leaning over to grab a stray paper that's located on the other end of the lift, a tearing noise catches her attention. For the first time today, Josie freezes. Behind her, Artie clears his throat and grumbles, "Um. Devons – "</p><p>"Did my shirt seriously just rip up the back?" she demands, swinging around to glower at him as if he's the source of her bad luck.</p><p>Artie raises his hands in surrender and shrugs, "It's not that bad, Josie. Promise."</p><p>She closes her eyes and inhales a deep breath of air. "Bloody fucking hell, I have such bad luck these days."</p><p>Artie gives her a shrugging smile and hands her the papers he'd gathered. "At least it's not the trousers, love."</p><p>Ah, there's the Artie she knows and loves – ever optimistic.</p><p>She sighs deeply and mumbles, "Yeah, that's true enough."</p><p>But it <em>is</em> pretty bad, which she discovers when she makes a pitstop to the loo on the way to her office. When she leans over far enough, it's very easy to see the plain black bra she's wearing. At least she's got some safety pins in her desk – if only she could find them. Upon entering her office and beginning her search, they seem to have gone missing. She supposes it doesn't matter all <em>that</em> much, in the grand scheme of things. After all, their goblin employers don't typically care what their curse-breakers wear to work. That's why Bill gets away with his long hair and earring. He wouldn't be able to pull that shit in any other profession.</p><p>In all fairness, Josie is in full agreement with his dress sense. Most of the time, she arrives to work wearing jeans and her leather jacket. She's never been a huge fan of skirts and stockings. As her dad would lovingly say, she's too much of a tomboy for all that. Maybe that's why Bill has never seen her as a woman.</p><p>Josie slams her now-disorganized research onto her desk and heaves out an impatient sigh, tearing open each drawer and angrily riffling through their contents. When at last she locates the small jar of safety pins (surprising as it may be, this isn't the first article of clothing she's ruined as of late), she ends up twisting the lid off too forcefully and sends them scattering all over the floor. As she stares at them, frustrated tears well up behind her eyes and it takes her a moment to calm herself down before she can summon the willpower to kneel and retrieve them. Hopefully no one decides to step into her office for a while, because if they do, they'll get an eyeful.</p><p>Of course, since she's having the worst morning of her life, someone <em>does</em> have to step into her office, and it <em>has</em> to be the last person she wants to see.</p><p>"Josie, I wanted to talk to you about – " Bill's voice suddenly says from the door that he's suddenly standing near. He's got a folder in his hand and his eyes are locked onto…well.</p><p>Her very plain and not-very-French bra, which is very much visible from the way she's leaning over as she picks up tiny safety pins.</p><p>Josie freezes for the second time that morning as horror captures her in its entirety. Her best friend clears his throat and steps into her office, which is exactly the opposite of what she would prefer, as she'd much rather he leave so that she can sink into the cracks of her floorboards and disappear in peace. Alas, that would go against the well-defined laws of Bad Luck, of which Josie Devonport has in droves.</p><p>It never used to be this way. Bill always used to say that she had uncannily good luck. She made it onto the Gryffindor Quidditch team as a second year, knocking all the other, older candidates out of the water and proving to the Captain that she was the best Chaser in the school. She got eleven OWLs without even lifting a textbook to study, and aced her NEWTs exams with flying colors and little effort. She was always in the right place at the right time, always got the best gossip, and always had a following of admirers wherever she went. She landed her job at Gringotts immediately after graduation, received an interview request before Bill, and rose to the top of the South American curse-breaker division within only two years of employment. The only thing she hadn't accomplished was making prefect back in school, but then again, she was never too fond of the rules. Of course, she would've done close to anything to earn that badge back then – not because she wanted the extra boost, but because it would've given her another excuse to be near Bill. Not that she really needed an excuse seeing as they used to do everything together anyway.</p><p>In any case, all it took was <em>one</em> trip to Sami Manqus, that damned Incan temple, and her entire life had changed; one stupid curse that she hadn't realized she had, until she came back to England and it started to manifest. The course of her life, which had seemed so straight and even, had become twisted. She'd become sick for no reason at all, and bad luck would hound her every step – and, of course, there's the little fact that Bill had put her to the side in favor of courting Fleur Delacour, his new favorite person. Yes, the last eight months have been complete and utter misery.</p><p>"…Josie?" Bill questions hesitantly, probably because she hasn't moved yet.<br/>She's still trying to sink into the floor in her attempts to pretend that he's not here. That's what she's been trying to do for months now, without success, because no matter what she does, she can't seem to get rid of Bill Weasley. He's everywhere she goes and everything she wants.</p><p>Before she even realizes it, Josie is laughing. It isn't the usual scoffed chuckle that leaves her lips whenever she's feeling quietly amused, or the full-bellied laughter that occasionally consumes her when she finds something too hilarious to contain. No, this is the sort of laugh that starts out as a grimaced, self-depreciating smirk and steamrolls into crazy, tear-filled insanity. It only stops when she feels Bill silently crouch beside her, toss his folder onto the floor, and cover the back of her torn shirt with his suit jacket.</p><p>Ah, right. Bill Weasley doesn't just have the ability of seeing the essence of a person with just a single look, he's also got a heart of gold. He's a bonified gentleman, born and raised – even when he's been ignored and avoided by his best friend for the last eight months.</p><p>Josie sits up in a rush, so quickly that Bill nearly falls back in surprise. His eyebrows jolt up into his hairline as Josie shrugs off the jacket, trying not to breathe in the mesmerizing scent of his cologne. It's no wonder Fleur is so attracted to him. Bill is literally perfect in every way. Not only does he look insanely handsome with his unique style, but he smells absolutely divine. Every inch of him is perfect, from his long head of red hair to the dragon-skin boots he favors. She clenches her fist in his jacket and then holds it out for him to take, rearranging her face into what she hopes is a professionally polite smile.</p><p>Bill has been on the receiving end of that smile for months now, so when he sees it once more, he purses his lips but says nothing, and merely stands up. A moment later he's slinging the rejected jacket over his arm and clearing his throat, no doubt feeling the tension leaving Josie's form as she deposits a handful of small silver safety pins onto the surface of her desk.</p><p>"You know, a simple <em>Reparo</em> charm would fix that," Bill says as he turns his attention back to the folder. His voice is a bit off-handed, probably due to her refusing his help. This is probably why he doesn't offer to perform the spell himself, too.</p><p>Josie snorts and mutters, "I'll get Artie to do it for me later."</p><p>She decides not to mention the fact that her wand isn't exactly in pristine condition at the moment. She doesn't know if she's just been too rough with it lately or if she should just blame it on the bad luck that she always seems to be dealing with these days, but last week she had discovered a small fracture running through the wood near the handle. Sometimes it doesn't seem to interfere with her spells at all, while at others, her magic gets completely botched up. She's not sure it would be wise to repair her shirt with a faulty wand. The way things have been going, she wouldn't be surprised if the whole thing got vanished as a result. In any case, she still needs to bring the wand to Ollivanders to see if it can be fixed, but she's been procrastinating because she's afraid it might require a large amount of money – money that she spends almost exclusively on rent, because her landlord is a balding old crook.</p><p>Her continued brush-off only makes Bill purse his lips harder. He glances up at her with the same fiery eyes he'd always have whenever she frustrated him back at Hogwarts, and begins, "Josie, I can – "</p><p>'Help', he's going to say, but Josie doesn't want his help. She doesn't want him in her office either, for that matter.</p><p>"So what did you need?" she cuts in, effectively squashing the offer before it can be made. She doesn't look at him, but she can see the way his shoulders stiffen from the corner of her eye, and she feels a bolt of guilt hit her hard in the chest. Merlin, she's so awful to him these days. He really doesn't deserve it, but it's just so hard to be near him. Brushing him off is the only solution she's been able to find so far to ensure that just the right amount of distance exists between them for her poor, downtrodden heart to survive.</p><p>Her tone makes him drop the gentle, caring approach that he always reverts to wherever she's concerned. She suspects that he just can't help himself. That, despite the fact that she's been avoiding him for months now, somewhere in his heart she'll always be the ungainly youth that he had befriended on their first train ride to Hogwarts. A friendship like theirs isn't easily swept under the rug, and Bill always seems to forget that Josie is trying to put distance between them. Or maybe he just hasn't figured that out yet, even though she thought she's made it pretty obvious. Maybe his generous heart is too pure to understand what her form of rejection looks like. Maybe she's just unable to properly reject him in the first place, because she doesn't really want to. She loves him, after all.</p><p>In any case, he always ends up losing his gentle approach after a while. When he straightens his back and transforms from friend to coworker, Josie isn't very surprised. There's only so much a man can take, after all, before he decides that it's not worth it.</p><p>"This is for the Hatshepsut case meeting today. Did you finish organizing the research?" he coolly wonders as he slides the folder onto her desk and silently eyes the pile of safety pins that she's nonchalantly unfastening. Mention of the research has Josie casting a furtive glance at the pile of papers strewn messily over her desk. Bill notices, of course. When he sees the scattered and obviously <em>un-organized</em> research, he sighs impatiently. "You had all week to do this, Josie," he says, in the sort of disappointed tone that a superior would use to chide an employee. It's the sort of tone that verges on anger but doesn't quite cross the threshold of it, and it makes Josie scowl.</p><p>Of course, Bill <em>isn't</em> her superior, but he is in a higher position than her. Only five months ago, he'd been promoted and given a hefty pay raise. He's already been promoted twice since landing his job, which isn't surprising. Bill is a damned good curse-breaker, and he's got charisma in droves. Everyone in the office loves him. She even heard a rumor about how one of his superiors on the field had begged for him to stay in Egypt and to not take the transfer back to the offices at Gringotts.</p><p>Anyway – the position of Head of the Ancient Egypt division goes to the famous Robert Wright, who happens to be Bill's boss and the man in charge of all the Egypt cases. He's tough and a bit of an arse when he doesn't get his way. The fact that he will be the one in charge of the meeting this afternoon definitely doesn't make her feel any better.</p><p>Josie swallows back a wave of frustration and says as calmly as she can, "I'll have it fixed by the meeting." Though, in her current state, her voice comes out a bit more pinched than she means for it to.</p><p>Bill stares at her for one long moment before sighing and muttering, "Make sure you do. You know how Wright is when things aren't in their proper order. And get Artie to fix your shirt before then, yeah?"</p><p>With that, Bill turns on his heel and takes his leave of her, and Josie stares at the back of his vest until it disappears beyond the threshold. Then, biting back more frustrated tears, she throws down her handful of unfastened safety pins and watches them join the others on the floor as she collapses in her chair – and promptly falls flat on her arse when one of the legs of said chair breaks.</p><p>"Oh bloody hell!" Josie exclaims, rubbing her head where she had knocked it into the edge of her desk. She blindly reaches for the broken-off chair leg and throws it angrily across the room with a curse.</p><p>Her only consolation this morning is that she hadn't seen Bill and Fleur's customary morning flirting session, but knowing how sickeningly in love they are, it's probably only a matter of time.</p><hr/><p>Josie can't find Artie before the meeting that afternoon, which is bad. Janice, who works in the banking department on the second floor but often comes up here because they apparently have a wider selection of teas, had told Josie that Artie had a lunch client to meet with and had only just left. Unfortunately, Josie hadn't heard about this beforehand, and had been too busy reorganizing the research papers to remember about her ripped shirt until five minutes before the meeting. She can't claim to be surprised, of course, because she's got the worst luck these days, but she's still cursing by the time three o'clock rolls around. Her shirt is still ripped at the back, the Hatshepsut research isn't as pristinely organized as she would have liked, and her already messy, curly hair is in even more of a mess after spending the whole afternoon frantically running her fingers through it whilst trying to remember how she'd organized the colossal stack of papers the night before.</p><p>By three o'clock, she's nervously setting up the meeting room even though she's not a secretary, damn it, and shouldn't have to prepare tea and hand out files – but she does anyway because she's hoping it will soften Wright up just a smidgen. This is actually Fleur's job, but the French woman is nowhere to be found. She's probably off making bedroom eyes at Bill from her desk.</p><p>In any case, let it be said now that her extra attention to details does not, in fact, soften Wright up. She's fairly certain that there's nothing in the world that can soften him up, which she's quickly reminded of when he waltzes into the room, takes one look at the perfectly poured cups of tea (all exactly aligned at a precise 90 degree angle from the right-hand corner of the files), and snorts, "What is this, a tea party? Get rid of those, Devonport. We have actual work to do today."</p><p>Josie, who had spent the last fifteen minutes preparing the best tea she's ever made in her life (yes, there <em>is</em> more to it than just boiling water), has to bite her tongue hard to stop a smart remark from leaving her lips.</p><p>Wright strides to the head of the table as the others enter the room and take their seats. Bill comes in last, takes one look at the set-up, and sends Josie an impressed smile. It vanishes though, when he happens to see the rather obvious tear in her shirt that she had hastily pinned together after realizing that Artie, her savior, had gone. In a quiet voice, he leans over as she's collecting all the teacups, and softly hisses, "I thought you said you'd fix the shirt."</p><p>Josie shoots him a look of her own and hisses right back, "Artie had a lunch meeting with a client."</p><p>Bill frowns at her. "You should've come to me."</p><p>She frowns too. "I lost track of time and by then – "</p><p>"Devonport, hurry up and sit down for Merlin's sake. You're holding up the meeting," Wright barks at her as he flips his file open and begins to look through the pages of it.</p><p>Josie, who is still gathering all the teacups, moves faster. Meanwhile, Wright, who is flicking through the files she'd prepared, begins to frown. Deeply.</p><p>"What is this?" he demands, and flicks the file back to the front page as his eyes skim over it again. "Did you not research any of this? The Hatshepsut temple is located at Deir el-Bahari, not el-Amarna. Did you get it mixed up with the Temple of the Aten?"</p><p>For the third time that day, Josie freezes. She jerks her head up to stare at Wright, who is frowning so deeply that the lines of his forehead are quickly becoming so pronounced that they form broad trenches across the expanse of it. She couldn't have made such a rookie mistake. He must have read it wrong, right? There's no way she'd mix up such important temples.</p><p>Then again, Ancient Egypt isn't exactly her area of expertise. Or interest. To be completely honest, she doesn't even know why Wright had asked her to help with this case to begin with. She's not even in his department. She suspects that Artie had a hand in it. He's always going on about her gaining more experience and how she 'shouldn't limit yourself to studying just Incan curses, you know, Josie – there's a whole world out there, after all!'</p><p>A nauseous feeling fills her stomach. She goes to put down the tray of teacups, intent on reaching for the file in front of Bill to inspect it. Her streak of bad luck has utterly ensnared her today, dogging her every move to such an extent that nothing she does seems to be good enough. When she hastily sets the tray down, too much of it is overhanging the edge of the meeting table and, unfortunately, she hadn't paid enough attention to distributing the weight of the cups evenly enough. It doesn't just fall onto the floor; it falls right into Bill's lap.</p><p>Bill lets out an undignified yelp and shoves his chair away from the table. The hot liquid drenches his trousers. Teacups rattle to the ground. Robert Wright's forehead grows another trench.</p><p>"Merlin, I'm sorry Bill!" she exclaims, and rushes over to retrieve a dishcloth. She's frantic beneath the scrutinizing eyes of the room, so much so that she doesn't even think twice about reaching forward to mop up the leg of Bill's trousers – until, of course, he curls his fingers around her wrist and gently pushes her hand away. That's when she realizes that she'd come very close to groping his crotch, which is really very unprofessional and highly embarrassing for her – and even more so for Bill, whose face is red enough to match his hair.</p><p>Wright slams his fist onto the table and stands up. Here's the thing about Robert Wright: when he grows angry with people, he doesn't hold back. He is most certainly angry now.</p><p>"ARE YOU INCOMPETENT?" he roars, just as red in the face as Bill, though for very different reasons.</p><p>Josie flinches and grips the edge of the meeting table so hard that her knuckles blanch bone-white.</p><p>"YOU SOUTH AMERICAN CURSE-BREAKERS ARE ALL THE SAME AREN'T YOU? THIS ISN'T SOME LIGHTHEARTED JAUNT THROUGH THE FUCKING RAINFOREST, DEVONPORT – THIS IS A HIGHLY CLASSIFIED CASE ON AN ANCIENT EGYPTIAN RELIC THAT'S REMAINED UNSOLVED FOR CENTURIES!"</p><p>Josie swallows and begins to gather the teacups that haven't fallen to the floor, hands shaking.</p><p>"I DON'T KNOW WHAT ARTEMIS SEES IN YOU! IT'S NO WONDER YOU WERE PUT IN THE SOUTH AMERICAN DEPARTMENT! YOU WOULDN'T LAST A FUCKING DAY ON MY TEAM. NOT A FUCKING DAY!"</p><p>Everyone is staring at her, and Josie feels her face flush so deeply that her entire body feels like it's on fire.</p><p>"AND IF THAT ISN'T ENOUGH, YOU COME TO THE OFFICE IN A TORN SHIRT WITH NO RESPECT FOR THE WORKPLACE! YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOUR INCOMPETENCE! NOW PICK UP THE FUCKING TEACUPS AND GET THE HELL OUT OF THIS MEETING!"</p><p>Wright finally lays off her, but the damage has been done. More mortified than she's ever been in her entire life, Josie collects the remaining teacups as quickly as she can and turns to leave. Bill tries to catch her eye, but Josie keeps her gaze resolutely downturned as she grips the tray and bolts for the door. She hears Wright slam his fist onto the tabletop again as she exits, and the sound nearly has her tripping her way into the hall as her heart skip a beat. Unfortunately though, even once she's out of the room, the mortification persists. Wright has a very loud voice, after all.</p><p>People stop what they're doing to stare at her. Some in bewilderment, some in amusement, but all with a certain look in their eyes that tells her she had probably deserved it. There aren't very many female curse-breakers in the Egyptian department, probably because Wright is a sexist arsehole, so everyone in the surrounding cubicles seems to assume that whatever he had yelled at her for, it must have been justified.</p><p>And it <em>was</em> justified, to an extent. She ended up researching the wrong temple, for Merlin's sake. Only an untried, inexperienced curse-breaker would do something as novice as that, and it's not like she's been sitting in an office signing paperwork since landing this job. She's been to South America more times than she can count and has broken through numerous curses in the field. So why – <em>why</em> couldn't she have double checked her research before she'd spent the last week compiling a ton of useless information on <em>the wrong temple?</em></p><p>With her face still burning hotly, Josie maneuvers her way to the break room to dump the tray of teacups next to the sink. She's about to turn and escape to her office on the next floor when her bad luck decides to fuck her over again, this time in the form of one gorgeous French secretary.</p><p>"Oh you poor zing! Let me 'elp you before you hurt yourself!" Fleur Delacour exclaims, shouldering her way into the small break room. Her fingers flutter over Josie, patting her hair down and straightening her shirt as she lets out an endless string of French. Josie isn't exactly in the right state of mind to translate the words, but she thinks she hears 'poor dear' several times. Fleur's fussing would have been endearing, really, if Josie didn't absolutely hate her.</p><p>Josie doesn't want to draw any more attention to herself by telling Fleur off. She doubts she'd actually be able to anyway. Apparently, she isn't just incompetent with paperwork – she's also really bad with confrontations. That's probably one of the reasons she's been in love with Bill since her fifth year at Hogwarts and never told him. The other reason is, of course, that by the time she had worked up enough courage to decide to take the chance, he'd been busy flirting with the woman who is now fretting over the tray of overturned teacups.</p><p>It's really rather rude of Josie to just walk away without a word, but that's exactly what she does. Everyone is still staring at her and her face is still as red as a tomato. All she wants to do is go breakdown in her office and try to convince herself that this entire day has just been a terrible dream. Besides, surely Fleur understands? Or perhaps she doesn't, seeing as everyone loves her. Even Wright thinks she's great.</p><p>By the time Josie returns to her office, the entire South American department has already heard what had happened. Workplace gossip spreads fast around here despite the Egyptian and South American divisions being on different floors, but thankfully her immediate coworkers are a bit nicer about it. She receives some pitying glances and a few pats on the back as she silently walks to the end of the hall and opens her office door. When she steps inside and closes it behind her, the silence is absolutely deafening.</p><p>She hears Wright's words as if he never stopped yelling at her. They tear into her thoughts like rattlesnakes, constricting around her mind so tightly that she can't think about anything else. Words have power, you see, and right now they're making her heart feel like its caving in on itself.</p><p>It seems that this is the theme for the day, because it doesn't get any better. When Artie returns from his lunch meeting and hears what had happened, he's nice enough not to scold her too badly for it, but he does come to her office to chide her for ruining her opportunity to work with an esteemed curse-breaker like Robert Wright. He goes on for a while about how she could have learned a lot from him, but thankfully he must realize that he's being a bit overbearing considering the fact that she's already been on the receiving end of Wright's full anger, and he doesn't stick around for too long.</p><p>This is probably the only good thing that happens to her all day, if it can even be considered good. It seems that she's currently on a downward track, and she's already gained so much momentum that fate has decided to push her just a little bit more. This becomes all too apparent when she reluctantly decides that she really ought to check on Bill and apologize for spilling hot tea in his lap. Even though their relationship is a bit stilted these days, she figures it would be cruel not to at least ask if his male bits are okay. Maybe she ought to phrase it better than that, though.</p><p>She comes to regret her decision the moment she tentatively knocks on his door. She had thought that braving the Egyptian department after Wright's thoroughly demoralizing shouting would have been hard enough as it is, but what she sees when she pushes her head into Bill's office is at least ten times worse.</p><p>Anyone else would have probably left after not receiving an answer, but Josie isn't just someone else. She's known Bill for years. He's told her secrets about himself that he hasn't even told his own brothers. She's been his best friend since their first meeting on the Hogwarts Express. Besides, Josie knows how dedicated Bill can be where it concerns his work. Sometimes, he gets so swept up in what he's doing that the rest of the world becomes nothing but a blur to him. She figures that this is what's happened, and so she doesn't hesitate when she pushes open the door and peers inside the room. An apology is on the tip of her tongue, but it promptly dies when she witnesses the sight that she sees then.</p><p>Bill is on his knees in front of Fleur, grinning as he pushes a ring onto her finger. Fleur is chanting 'yes, yes of course', again and again and she throws her arms around his shoulders and kisses him deeply on the mouth.</p><p>For the fourth time today, Josie freezes. It doesn't even occur to her that she's invading a very personal moment and that she has absolutely no right to stand there and gape at them like an unintelligent troll. To be fair, though, she can't even remember how to move, let alone look away.</p><p>Thankfully – or not – she remembers just as Bill glances her way, and it's his turn to freeze. He blushes and pushes Fleur back, clearing his throat as if he's been caught doing something that he shouldn't be doing. Which is ridiculous, of course, because if anyone is doing something they shouldn't be, it's Josie as she stares at Bill in utter, heartbroken betrayal.</p><p>Merlin. She knows it's wrong. Just because she's been in love with him for forever doesn't mean he's obligated to return her feelings. That's not how life works. Human hearts are complicated things, after all, and Fleur is beautiful and smart and funny and of course he's in love with her. It's only natural that he wants to make things official – to steal her away before anyone else gets the chance.</p><p>She thinks he's saying something to her, but her ears are pumping with blood and it feels like she's underwater. The surface is too far away and she's too tired to swim to it. Maybe she'd rather drown.</p><p>"Josie."</p><p>Right, her name. He's always said her name so gently, as if it was the most sacred sound on earth.</p><p>Bill gives Fleur – his fiancée – a soft look and then faces Josie. He takes a step forward, his kind blue eyes creased with tenderness, and quietly says, "Are you okay? Wright was out of line. Everyone thought so, so don't let it get to you too much, yeah?"</p><p>For a moment, Josie has absolutely no idea what he's talking about. Then she remembers Wright's angry shouts and the way he'd called her incompetent in front of everyone in the meeting room, and her face flushes again with belated embarrassment. Just thinking about it makes her want to sink into the floorboards, but somehow the memory of the nightmarish meeting isn't quite as bad as what she's feeling right now, as she watches Fleur admire her new ring from over Bill's shoulder.</p><p>"Right," she croaks. "I. Um. I just – wanted to apologize for – spilling – "</p><p>"It's fine," Bill interrupts, and reaches over to push a strand of her hair behind her ear with a kind smile. "No harm done, Josie."</p><p>She gives him a shaky smile. She can't help but think how messed up it is that, in the face of Bill's gentle reassurance, she wants to cry more than when she received the full brunt of Wright's fury.</p><p>"Okay then," she breathes. "Right. Congratulations. On – yeah. The proposal – I should go," she finishes with a rush, and turns to leave.</p><p>She's <em>so glad</em> that Bill doesn't stop her, because before the door even closes, she has to reach up to dig the heel of her hand into her eyes so as to stop her tears from making themselves known. She makes a show of pretending that there's something in her eye as she darts back to the lift, hoping that the other employees on the Egyptian floor aren't staring at her like they'd been before. It takes her several tries to locate the right button because the world is currently a blurry mess, but once she does and she's alone in the small compartment, Josie collapses against the wall with a low, pained groan.</p><p>God, she's pathetic. What could be more pitiful than being in love with the same man for the better part of a decade, even though you <em>know</em> he doesn't feel the same way about you? No matter how hard you try to convince yourself to <em>stop</em> being in love with him, you just <em>can't. </em>Your stubborn heart just doesn't want to listen, and even when it gets bruised and crushed, it still sears with tentative hope.</p><p>Bill hasn't married Fleur <em>yet,</em> after all. Maybe he'll break things off with her. Maybe –</p><p>"Merlin's Balls Josie, shut up," she tells herself, hitting the back of her head against the compartment wall as if she's trying to force those thoughts from her mind. It works for the most part, but only because she ends up having other things to worry about. The day isn't over yet, after all, and her run of bad luck is really only just beginning.</p><p>She cloisters herself in her office for the remainder of the day and throws herself into her research on Incan curses, but her thoughts never stray too far from the grin on Bill's face when Fleur had said yes to his proposal. The more she tries not to think about it, the more she ends up focusing on it completely. By the time five o'clock rolls around, the physical manifestations of her curse have taken a hold of her, and her whole body feels as if she's been slammed into by a bus.</p><p>Unfortunately, ancient South American magic can be a bit volatile. She's been dealing with this curse for nearly eight months now, ever since she returned from Peru on her last expedition. Incan curses are complicated things and she must not have broken through all of them properly. By the time she'd returned to England, the curse had taken a hold of her and made itself known in more ways than just a heavy dosage of bad luck. Bloody noses, coughing fits, and sore muscles are only a few of the physical repercussions.</p><p>Josie lets out a sigh as she rolls her shoulders and steps out of her office, intent on heading home and trying to forget that this day ever happened. She makes her way to the ground floor of the bank to where the floo grates are located, arms laden with her purse and briefcase, which is heavy with paperwork she still has to do. It's just as well that she had taken her time packing up for the day and is one of the only employees left in the building, because when she takes a handful of floo powder, announces her flat, and goes to step inside, she finds that she can't. A boundary seems to have crept over the grate, and when she tries to step inside a second time, it's as if her foot meets an invisible wall.</p><p>She stares at the green flames in confusion before deciding to try another grate. As she steps over to the next one and reaches for another handful of powder, she figures that it had just been a fluke. Perhaps the magic had been disconnected or something. It's been known to happen every once in a while. There's a subdivision in the Ministry that's in charge of sending inspectors to redo the charms and solidify the portals. Perhaps Gringotts is on their list of places to update.</p><p>Josie tries four grates before she realizes that she's being too optimistic. There must be something going on at her end. Perhaps her landlord is the one who needs to get <em>his</em> floo networks inspected. Deciding that she'll just have to walk home, she sighs and trudges into the main lobby of the bank. The goblins who run the bank barely give her a second glance as they finish up their work for the day. They rarely hold to the strict nine to five shifts that their human counterparts adhere to and often stay later than the other departments, so at least the lights are still on as she heads to the large doors that lead out into Diagon Alley. It's only a small blessing though, because when she steps out of the bank, she realizes that it's raining and she left her umbrella in her office.</p><p>The humiliation of the day sits heavily on her shoulders as Josie lets out a deep sigh. She walks into the rain and begins her trek across Diagon Alley. Her flat is on the other end of it, down several winding streets. The rain would normally increase her pace, but she feels too downtrodden to walk quickly. By the time she reaches her flat ten minutes later, she's absolutely drenched and her hair is a frizzy mess of flyaway curls.</p><p>All she wants to do is take a hot shower, get into her pajamas, and collapse into bed, but when she rounds the corner and approaches the tall building where she's been living for the last few years, she realizes that this will not be possible.</p><p>"What are you <em>doing?"</em> Josie demands, gripping her briefcase with tight fingers as she storms forward. Her belongings are literally strewn all over the front steps that lead up to the building. Clothes that are now dirty and wet from the rain sit in piles on one side, now-ruined books on the other, with dishware and toiletries and lamps and end tables piling up between them. In the middle of it all stands her landlord, who is in the process of magicking her remaining belongings through the door of the building and onto the street.</p><p>He raises an eyebrow at her drenched state and says, "Kicking you out, love. You're late on rent again."</p><p>Josie chokes back an incredulous laugh. She ignores the stares she's getting from passersby and exclaims, "You can't just do this without giving me any advanced notice – and I was only two days late. <em>Two days!"</em></p><p>Her landlord just shrugs. He doesn't look apologetic at all.</p><p>"You were late last month, too," is all he says, and with a swish of his wand, levitates her houseplant, which she had fondly named Marcia, on top of the pile. It start to teeter dangerously, so Josie marches forward to grab it before it falls, hugging it to her chest as she eyes the scene in front of her. Now she knows why the floo network hadn't worked. Her landlord must have blocked her access, the crooked arsehole.</p><p>"I have nowhere to go. You can't do this," she says again, hoping that he might be softened by her show of womanly pleading.</p><p>But he's not, and he just shrugs once more before turning to the doors of the complex. As he slams them shut, he calls, "You've got friends, right? Go bother one of them."</p><p>She stands there in the rain for several long minutes, so taken aback by this sudden twist that all she can do is clutch her houseplant and try not to cry. Her leather jacket doesn't seem to be working today, because her usual confidence is nowhere to be found. Her bottom lip wobbles pathetically and she's afraid she might be squeezing the life out of poor little Marcia, the bashful little mimosa plant that Ricardo had gifted her with on her last trip to Peru. She only breaks out of her daze when someone whistles at her from across the street and shouts something rather lewd about the fact that several of her bras having fallen off the pile of clothes and onto the street.</p><p>Josie hastens to charm the suitcase with an expanding spell after that and thanks Merlin that her wand is working at the moment, otherwise she would be well and truly screwed. She puts Marcia down and begins the process of shoving her entire life into one tiny box. Then when she's done, she heaves the suitcase up, gathers her plant, and starts walking. Given the state of her life at this moment in time, Josie is in a blanketed state of shock as she heads down the street.</p><p>She's trying to figure out where she should go when the next stroke of Bad Luck hits her. As she walks, she wracks her brain for old contacts and school friends that would be generous enough to let her crash at their place for the night. She really doesn't want to go to her dad's house. She knows that he'll just tell her yet again that she should quit her job and work in the family restaurant with the rest of her cousins, and her mum only just got remarried a few months ago and is still off in Bali for her honeymoon with her new muggle husband. She's lost touch with most of her school friends, at least to the point of asking for a favor of this caliber, and would rather sleep on a street corner than ever go to Bill for help.</p><p>She's in the middle of thinking about how awful <em>that</em> would be when she happens to glance into the large windows of the Hallberg Café, a relatively swanky restaurant on the corner of the street, and nearly chokes on the ironic surprise that fills her at the sight of Bill Weasley himself. He's sitting at a table with Fleur, laughing at something she's saying as he tangles his fingers with hers on the tabletop. Fleur looks like she's positively glowing when she keeps glancing down at the new ring on her finger.</p><p>Josie feels her heart drop. Poor little Marcia will probably get strangled to death at this rate.</p><p>Merlin, why did they have to go out to dinner tonight of all nights? Why did she have to walk past this window and catch sight of them? Why is she standing in the rain holding a houseplant like a lunatic? More importantly, why did she ever let Ricardo convince her to break into that damned Incan temple?</p><p>She sighs and tilts her head back. That's not fair of her. If anything, she'd been the one to convince <em>him</em> to come along with her. They've worked together on many cases and they make a good team. It only made sense to ask him if he wanted to tag along on yet another expedition. Ricardo Vasquez is <em>always</em> ready to drop his life and join her for an adventure.</p><p><em>"Someone's</em> got to make sure you look before you leap, <em>mi querida,"</em> he's always saying, and he's right. Josie is a bit reckless. She has a tendency of going where the wind blows and not worrying about where it's taking her. That's probably why she didn't question it when she fell in love with Bill. She hadn't thought about all the reasons why it was such an incredibly <em>bad </em>idea. Well, not until recently, anyway.</p><p>Josie stands there for a few moments more, staring at Bill through the window, until he seems to feel her eyes on him and looks up. The way she immediately ducks and shuffles past the windows is a feat of great caliber for her, considering that she's balancing a suitcase, purse, briefcase, <em>and</em> houseplant in her arms. Thankfully she doesn't think he sees her. When she glances over her shoulder as she leaves, he's right back to drooling over his new fiancée as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened, and Josie just sighs again as she trudges down the street towards The Leaky Cauldron. It's not like she's got anywhere else to go.</p><p>When she finally reaches the inn, it's blissfully warm inside, and that's <em>nearly</em> enough to uplift her spirits. Nearly.</p><p>"Sorry, Devonport. No vacancies," Tom, the owner, tells her when she hauls her things up to the bar. It's a busy night and he's clearly got other things on his mind, because he's quickly preparing a tray of butterbeers for a group of patrons who are noisily sitting on the other side of the pub.</p><p>"But – " she begins.</p><p>"I can get you a drink, though," Tom interrupts before she can try her womanly pleading again. It's probably just as well, seeing as she's apparently shit at it.</p><p>Josie collapses into the bar stool, digging the heels of her hands into her eyes. "Yeah, okay. Double shot of firewhiskey. You know what? Keep them coming."</p><p>Upon hearing her order, Tom sends her an appraising look but doesn't argue. He's known Josie for ages now. The Leaky Cauldron is a favorite after-work hangout for her whenever she needs to let loose after a stressful day. As Tom watches her put her houseplant onto the counter, he figures that today has been more than a little stressful.</p><p>Especially when Josie starts digging around in her purse and, close to tears now, moans, "I left my wallet in the office."</p><p>Tom's expression softens slightly. He shakes his head at her and pours a double shot. "I'll put it on your tab, Devons. You look like you're in a bad spot."</p><p>Josie groans, takes the firewhiskey, and downs it in one gulp. As she slams it back onto the counter, she mumbles, "You've got no idea, Tom."</p><p>Tom sends her another pitying glance and pushes the bottle of firewhiskey towards her before bringing the tray of butterbeers to the group of wizards on the far side of the pub. He makes himself scarce after that as he bustles about filling other orders, but Josie doesn't mind. After today, she just wants to sit in silence and get sloshed. At least then she won't have to figure out where she's sleeping tonight.</p><p>Honestly, what happened to her? She used to be so cool.</p><p>Josie's thoroughly despondent mood seems to fade away with the more alcohol she has. Three shots in, a pleasant buzz fills her mind and drenches through her thoughts. By the time she gets to her fifth shot, she's reached a point where the events of the day seem almost absurd.</p><p>"And – can you believe this, Tom? – I actually researched the <em>wrong</em> temple," she drunkenly laughs. "Egyptian names are really…really <em>weird</em> you know. I mean Hapsetshup…Hatshedshit…whatsitcalled is like, right next door to the other one. They're all on the fucking Nile so is it really that odd that I mixed them up?"</p><p>Tom glances over at her as he's dealing with another patron and drones, "Yeah, weird."</p><p>Josie hiccups and pours herself another shot. "None of this would've happened if I hadn't fucked with that…that – Merlin – that temple in Peru. Incan gold's never cursed me <em>before."</em></p><p>Tom hums.</p><p>"I mean it's sort of my <em>job,</em> you know," Josie says as she slams the shot glass down again. "Go in, disable the spells, take the gold. How was I supposed to know that holding onto one stupid coin would ruin my life?"</p><p>Tom shuffles away to tell off some younger wizards who are trying to levitate their table into the air. The guffawing laughter is quelled as Tom tears into them about liabilities and whatnot, but Josie doesn't even notice that the proprietor has left and just keeps talking.</p><p>"Ricardo tried telling me that cursed Incan gold is just a myth but he's obviously wrong. Just last week my entire back was black and blue for no apparent reason. It's this fucking curse," Josie bemoans, and pours another shot.</p><p>"Bruises and bad luck, hmm? That <em>does</em> sound like a curse," Tom muses in a strangely feminine voice.</p><p>Josie scoffs. "Yeah, I even have the – hic – inscription of the curse. Some shit about how greed makes you perish. All because I took that coin."</p><p>"Do you still have it?"</p><p>Josie drops her head onto the counter and closes her eyes, head spinning. "Course I do, Tom. It's right here in my pocket."</p><p>After some moments spent trying to remember what a pocket is, Josie slams a small, unassuming golden coin onto the counter and opens her eyes to blearily stare at it.</p><p>"Real gold, huh?" Tom asks.</p><p>Josie rolls her eyes and the world shakes. "It's from an Incan temple. It's obviously real gold."</p><p>She sees someone reach over to pick the coin up and wonder, "And it's cursed, you say?"</p><p>Josie rubs her eyes and grumbles, "Haven't you been listening to me all this time? It's cursed me with <em>awful</em> bad luck. I got kicked out of my flat, screamed at by my boss – and the man I've been in love with for ages even got proposed today." She frowns in confusion and mumbles, "…Proposed…engaged – he got engaged<em>. Fuck.</em> He got engaged."</p><p>Tom's voice is still weirdly feminine when he murmurs, <em>"Really?"</em></p><p>Josie moans, "I always thought…always thought we'd end up together…god, I'm so pathetic. Every time I see them I want to rip Fleur's perfect hair out."</p><p>She pushes herself up onto her elbows and blinks, and looks across the counter at Tom. Only he isn't there. She frowns in confusion.</p><p>"I happen to be a bit of an expert in Peruvian curses. I think I could help you," the voice says to her left.</p><p>Josie jerks her head towards the voice and, when she sees the witch leaning against the counter beside Marcia, she gasps, "When did you get there?"</p><p>The witch raises her eyebrows and slides the golden coin back to Josie. The world is a bit blurry right now, but the woman seems quite tall and has a distinctly Columbian appearance. "I have Incan blood myself, you know. You should come talk to me. I could help you break your curse," the woman murmurs, and snaps open her clutch to pluck out what looks like a business card.</p><p>She reaches over to tuck it into the breast pocket of Josie's shirt and sends her a cryptic smile. Josie frowns, grasping onto the golden coin as she stares at the witch. Through her bleary haze of drunkenness, all Josie sees is glowing skin, wise brown eyes, high cheekbones…</p><p>"You can't have Incan blood. The Inca are all gone," Josie stupidly mumbles.</p><p>The witch raises an eyebrow and opens her mouth to respond, but before she can, a voice cuts through the din of the pub. A very <em>familiar</em> voice.</p><p>"Josie? What are you doing here?" Bill asks as he catches sight of her at the bar, a half-empty bottle of firewhiskey on the counter beside her.</p><p>Josie tears her eyes away from the witch to look at one very confused Bill Weasley, who is quickly approaching her. A hasty look around the pub tells her that for some reason, Fleur isn't with him. This only makes her feel marginally better, though, because when she turns back to look at the witch, she's gone.</p><p>"Where'd she go?" she asks, and moves Marcia out of the way as if she expects that the witch is hiding behind her houseplant. As she does, Bill arrives at the counter, takes one look at the suitcase at her feet and the plant next to her empty shot glass, and purses his lips.</p><p>"What's happened to you?" Bill demands, though not in an angry sort of way. He looks worried, actually, when he turns to flag Tom down. As the proprietor sends him a nod and begins to extricate himself from the conversation he's been wrangled into at the other end of the counter, Bill turns back to Josie and puts a comforting hand on her back.</p><p>In her drunken, firewhiskey-induced haze, she doesn't remember why it's such a terrible idea to sink into his touch. Which is, by the by, exactly what she does.</p><p>"Mmm…Billy, I've had such a…such a bad day," Josie laughs, and tucks her head against his shoulder, which is perfectly level to her head. She's always loved how tall he is…</p><p>Bill looks down at her in concern and frowns. As he threads his fingers comfortingly through her hair, he says, "I know Jos. Why's your suitcase here?"</p><p>Josie snorts out another laugh and tiredly mumbles, "Got kicked out…I was late on rent." She laughs again because honesty, in lieu of everything <em>else</em> that's happened today, the fact that she also got kicked out of her flat is almost too ridiculous to believe.</p><p>Bill seems to think so too, but his reaction isn't to join in with her laughter. His voice is tight with worry when he puts his arm around her shoulders and sighs, "Merlin. You really did have a rough day, didn't you?"</p><p>She hums in agreement, suddenly overcome with sleepiness now that Bill's gorgeous voice is serenading her. It doesn't stop her from reaching blindly for the firewhiskey bottle, though. Bill snatches her hand before she can get it and loops his fingers through hers, and Josie is so overcome by the sensation that she forgets why she had reached over to begin with. She's always loved Bill's hands…</p><p>Tom finally reaches them, casting a glance at Josie before rolling his eyes and turning to Bill. He seems somewhat relieved to see him, probably because with Bill here, he doesn't have to kick Josie out of the pub at closing time. Bill Weasley has always looked after Josie Devonport. It's just what he does. Best friends and all that.</p><p>Josie is so out of it that she doesn't notice Bill getting his wallet out. She doesn't notice him paying her tab and doesn't see Tom tuck the bottle of firewhiskey beneath the counter. She's too busy staring at the golden coin in her hand; the coin that Bill takes notice of when he turns back to face her.</p><p>"What's that?" he wonders, startling her a bit.</p><p>Right. Bill doesn't know about the Incan curse. She never told him that there's a real reason for her constant streak of bad luck, and he's got no idea why she's so ill all the time. She'd like to claim that it's because he's been too busy mooning over Fleur, but in reality, she just doesn't want him to know. Pride holds her hostage. She's been following after Bill since graduating Hogwarts, living in his shadow, trying to prove to everyone that she's just as good at breaking curses as he is, and admitting that she made such a foolish mistake would be dreadfully embarrassing. She knows this is a bit ridiculous but – Merlin, she just wants him to be proud of her.</p><p>"Nothing," she mumbles, and shoves the coin back into her pocket. Thankfully, she remembers what a pocket is, this time.</p><p>Bill studies her for one long moment before nodding and muttering, "Right. Let's go, then. Up and at 'em, Josie."</p><p>The next moment, he's hauling her to her feet and steadying her, his hands warm and solid around her waist. He slings her purse over his shoulder and reaches for his wand, murmuring, <em>"Reducio,"</em> beneath his breath as he waves it over her suitcase. Once it's small enough, he slips it into his pocket. Then, turning back to her, he eyes her for another long moment before he shrugs out of his jacket and gently tucks it over her shoulders.</p><p>"What're you doing?" Josie mumbles, but this time she doesn't try to slip out of the jacket and merely pulls it tighter around her form.</p><p>Bill doesn't answer her at first. He tucks her Marcia under his arm and then loops his other arm around Josie's waist, pulling her firmly against him. The move makes her thoughts go foggy once more. The combination of alcohol and Bill is too much for her brain to handle.</p><p>So is apparition, for that matter.</p><p>"Hold on, Jos," he murmurs to her, then turns on his heel and apparates with a pop.</p><p>Now, for any aspiring witch or wizard out there who is reading this now, you may have heard that apparating whilst under the influence is generally not recommended. All sorts of things can go wrong, from getting splinched to landing a hundred feet above your intended location. Side-apparating is of course less dangerous, as you aren't the one driving the spell, but it's still incredibly unpleasant when firewhiskey is involved. And so, when Bill apparates them outside of his flat, Josie really can't stop the immense wave of nausea that quickly creeps up the back of her throat.</p><p>"Oh god," she mutters, and throws herself at the nearest bush.</p><p>If she was slightly more sober, she'd probably be mortified at the frankly disgusting way she heaves into the bush and throws her guts up. As it is, she's very much drunk, but to be completely honest she still feels a bit mortified when Bill steps over to her and crouches at her side.</p><p>"Shh, it's okay," he whispers to her as he pushes the mass of her dark curly hair out of her face and rubs her back. Merlin, who told him to be so fucking perfect, anyway?</p><p>The warmth of his hand and the gentleness of his voice does something to her in that moment that will make her even <em>more</em> mortified, come morning. When she finally stops puking up the contents of her stomach, she's overcome by the fact that he's here, <em>helping</em> her, after <em>months</em> of dealing with her attitude, and the guilt and loneliness she's been struggling with seems to hit an all time low. Coupled with the cumulation of every poignant and horrendous event that has taken place in the last few hours, is it any wonder that the tears she's spent the whole day holding back now overflow? It isn't the tears themselves that will mortify her tomorrow morning, though, but the way she ends up throwing herself into Bill's arms in her search for more of his warm comfort.</p><p>Merlin, she's missed him.</p><p>"Hey, hey, it's okay Josie," he soothes, and – bless him – he doesn't hesitate for even a moment as he hauls her closer, even though she just spent the last few minutes vomiting into that poor bush.</p><p>She's a bawling mess. It's partially his fault for her current state, but she still can't stop herself from craving as much of him as she can hold. She clings to him like a child, shaking and crying, and doesn't even realize she's blubbering until she hears herself say, "I have nowhere to go, Billy. I'm homeless. I'm a hobo now."</p><p>Yes, those words will most certainly make her groan with embarrassment in the morning, but right now they seem perfectly acceptable.</p><p>Bill just rubs her back and responds, "I'll take care of you, Josie."</p><p>After all, when it comes to her, that's just what he does.</p><p>The rest of what happens is admittedly a blur. Somehow, Bill manages to get her onto her feet and lead her into his flat. She has no idea how he's able to get her up the two flights of stairs to his third-floor room, considering how she's refusing to let go of his shirt. She thinks he might end up carrying her at least part of the way, but to be perfectly honest, everything is a haze. If the firewhiskey isn't enough to make the world spin into a confusing mess, the headache that's already pulsing through her brain certainly doesn't help. With her blubbering tears, she figures that Bill must be a saint. Either that, or a reincarnated Heracles.</p><p>The next thing she's aware of is the way Bill is lowering her into a bed and giving her that gentle smile of his. He leans over her and pushes her hair out of her eyes, saying something that Josie is too weary to decipher. His voice and the warmth of the blankets that he pulls over her body are enough to lull her into an encompassing sleep. She doesn't realize that she's grasping his hand and clenching onto it, or that she's still wearing his jacket, or that he's wiping her tears away and leaning down to press a kiss to her forehead. She doesn't even realize the way she mumbles, "I love you, Billy," in a voice that's hoarse from her ugly crying.</p><p>All she knows is that when Bill squeezes her hand and whispers, "I love you too, Josie," everything feels alright again.</p><p>Well, until morning, of course, when reality will come to knock at her door and remind her what an enormous idiot she is.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Never Fall for your Best Friend</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Did I say I'd be updating every Tuesday?  I lied.  It's Quarantine Time baby let's throw caution to the wind.  Updates twice a week for the time being since I am obsessed with Josie and Bill and have tons of chapters ready to post ;D</p><p>Hope you all enjoy!  Next update on Tuesday.  For real this time, I should probably turn my focus to Vivicendium before Vivirius fans revolt on me ;)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  <strong>Chapter Two | Never Fall for your Best Friend</strong>
</p><p>Josie wakes up to the scent of bacon, and for a moment she thinks that she's back home. She can practically hear her dad whistling cheerfully as he mans the stove, cracking sizzling eggs over the hot pan as the morning light streams over his weathered face. He'd wink at her when she'd come lumbering into the kitchen, half asleep and blinking blearily. There would always be a cup of tea ready for her at the kitchen table, courtesy of her mum, who would look up from the latest essay she was marking and smile at her when she fell into her chair. Her parents would playfully bicker back and forth about how to cook breakfast the correct way and her dad would always end the argument with the same line: "You're not the cook in this family, love,<em> I</em> am." As a restaurant owner, her dad likes to think he's a master chef.</p><p>For a moment, Josie smiles into her pillow and sleepily raises her arms in a languid stretch. Both her parents are muggles and they were a bit skeptical to the wonders of magic, once the novelty had worn off. Her dad would always say, "You can't cut corners with cooking, Josie," whenever she'd offer to help out in the kitchen with magic. Despite his initial refusal, he'd always end up griping about how she should've just helped him anyway, but the situation would always come full circle the next time she'd offer. She thinks she gets her stubbornness from her dad, honestly. If he can't do something himself, then he doesn't do it at all.</p><p>Her mum's a different story entirely. She needs someone to rely on or else she can't function. That's probably why she ended up remarrying only two years after the divorce. It's not a bad thing, of course, needing someone. For example, she doubts she would've gotten through her first year of Hogwarts without Bill –</p><p>Josie's eyes fly open, sitting up so quickly that the headache that's been lingering quietly at the back of her head throttles forward at full-force. She careens into a fetal position as yesterday comes flooding back.</p><p>Bill.</p><p>Fuck.</p><p>Josie closes her eyes tightly and rolls back into the pillow, which she now recognizes as one she definitely does not own. Now that she's looking at it, the flowery border on the pillowcase looks a bit familiar. Molly must've given it to Bill in order to spruce up his flat. Always was a homemaker, Mrs. Weasley.</p><p>Holy Merlin, did she cry on him? Did she – did she <em>vomit</em> in front of him?</p><p>She buries her face in her arms and inhales deeply, trying to sort out the events of the night before. Right. After her horrendous day at work, she was kicked out of her flat. She went to see if Tom had any spare rooms. Firewhiskey. Bill. She thinks she's missing something, but the more she tries to wrack her brain for answers, the more her headache sinks its claws into her, so she just decides to focus on what's important right now:</p><p>1. It's a work day, which means she can't lie in bed forever and she's going to have to get up soon or she'll be late.</p><p>2. The scent of bacon tells her that Bill is already awake and is probably wondering if she's still alive, which means he's most likely going to check on her once he's got a moment.</p><p>3. She smells like firewhiskey and vomit, which means a shower is definitely in order. Which also means that she'll have to used Bill's shower. The shower that he gets into naked.</p><p><em>Focus, Josie.</em> Right.</p><p>4. She's absolutely starving, as she hadn't eaten anything for dinner last night because she was kicked out of her flat, which means she needs to either beg Tom to give her a room at The Leaky Cauldron or go find a box to sleep in for the foreseeable future.</p><p>5. She doesn't want to sleep in a box, which means she's just going to have to work on her womanly charms so that Tom will take pity on her.</p><p>Okay, right, that's all well and good, but this doesn't help her with the most pressing issue: getting out of bed. It's not the actual getting out of bed part that makes her nervous, of course, but rather the part that includes braving a certain red haired curse-breaker who had <em>carried her up two flights of stairs last night.</em> Fuck.</p><p>As the memories continue to pour into her head, Josie groans and rolls to the edge of the mattress, wondering if she should just keep rolling onto the floor and hope that she hits her head hard enough to knock her out for the rest of the day. Or maybe her life.</p><p>"Are you really contemplating suicide?" she groans to herself, and rubs her eyes.</p><p>She nearly jumps straight into the air when another voice chuckles, "I really hope not. I don't think I could live without you, Josie."</p><p>Josie keeps her eyes shut, hoping that the voice is just a figment of her imagination and that Bill hadn't just walked in and heard her talking to herself. She's almost beginning to believe it when the edge of the mattress sinks down and she feels his fingers curl around her wrist to tug it away from her face. His eyes are slightly creased with worry as he looks down at her.</p><p>"I've got a hangover potion for you," he says quietly, lifting a vial of dark brown sludge and raising his eyebrows at her.</p><p>Josie just closes her eyes again and mumbles, "I don't want it."</p><p>Bill sighs. "I know you don't like the taste, but do you really want to be hungover when Wright inevitably badgers you about yesterday's meeting?"</p><p>A low groan escapes her at the thought, and Bill uncorks the vial and hands it to her. After a moment spent staring unhappily at the brown sludge, Josie sits up and downs it in one gulp. It's impossible not to make a disgusted face at the taste of it. It literally tastes like muddy water and shit, but it works wonders because her headache clears instantly.</p><p>She blindly hands the vial back to Bill, and for a moment, it feels like they've gone back in time. Bill sends her a little smile and lays his hand on her blanket-covered leg, giving it a comforting squeeze, and Josie smiles back and realizes how much she's missed this. Them. Her and Bill, taking on the world together.</p><p>And then reality sets back in, as it is wont to do whenever she remembers that things <em>aren't</em> the same, not any more – that it isn't just her and Bill anymore. If anything, it's Bill and Fleur, and Josie is just sitting on the sidelines wondering if he's forgotten about her.</p><p>Her smiles grows a bit strained.</p><p>"I should probably take a shower," she mumbles, and just like that, the distance is back, growing with a vengeance as Josie shuffles out of the covers and awkwardly realizes that she's still wearing Bill's jacket from last night, and that her shirt is still hastily pinned together with safety pins and there's a splotch of what she <em>really hopes</em> is not vomit on the lower hem of it.</p><p>God, she's a mess.</p><p>Bill clears his throat and stands up too. He hesitates for a moment before saying, "Right. You know where everything is. You did help me move in, after all." His smile is a bit strained too, when it's clear that his words aren't summoning the laugh he had been hoping for. Josie just nods his words off and pushes her curly hair out of her face, staring at him blankly. He clears his throat and leaves quickly after that,</p><p>Once he disappears, Josie digs around her suitcase for some clean clothes, but everything is damp and has a stale scent wafting from it after being shoved so haphazardly together last evening. More than she's ever been before, Josie is suddenly very grateful that the goblins don't care what she wears to work. They won't look twice at the band t-shirt she grabs from the pile of clothes and as for her black leather jacket, she knows that isn't a problem because she always wears it and has never gotten in trouble for it before. Frankly, she's got other things to concern herself with than her clothing choices. Mainly how she's going to survive breakfast.</p><p>A quick glance at the clock tells her that she'll have to get ready in record time unless she wants to be late. Her shower is quick and to the point, despite the fact that she'd very much like to enjoy it a bit more. Merlin only knows when her next long shower will be. She's seen the inside of The Leaky Cauldron's bathrooms and they are not pleasant.</p><p>It's as she's pulling her torn shirt off and tossing it onto the bathroom floor that she finally recalls the missing piece of her memory from last night. At first, she's confused when she sees the small scrap of paper flutter out of the breast pocket of the ruined shirt. She stares at it for a moment, raising an eyebrow at the nondescript bit of parchment before leaning down to pluck it off the tiled floor. When she turns it over, she pauses and frowns as small recollections from her drunken state begins to slip between the other memories. When the unassuming Incan coin falls onto the floor as Josie is kicking the shirt out of the way, those memories become a little clearer.</p><p>'<em>Tesoros del Viejo Mundo'</em> is printed on the business card in bold font, followed by a street address in finer print. A name follows after, presumably the owner of the shop and the woman that Josie now remembers speaking to at the pub last night. Now that she thinks about it, this woman - Catalina Aceves, according to the card – had said something about being able to help with Josie's curse.</p><p>She stares at the business card for another long moment, leaning against the sink as she tries to remember exactly what the witch had said. Something about being of Inca descent and knowing how to use her ancestral magic. Josie runs her thumb over the edge of the card and reads the shop name again. Spending so much of her time in South America has made her somewhat fluent in the Spanish language, to the point where she can understand much of what is said and can usually hold her own in conversations.</p><p>'<em>Treasures of the Old World' </em>is the translation of the shop. Catalina seems to have a curiosity for Incan gold, if her interest in the coin last night had been any indication. It could just be a professional recreation, but the fact that the shop is located in Knockturn Alley gives Josie a reason to be wary. Nothing good ever comes out of that foul place, especially these days. With Voldemort on the rise, Knockturn Alley is even more dangerous than it used to be.</p><p>She wishes she had more time to think on this before breakfast, but unfortunately she's already going to be cutting it close as it is, so she tucks the business card and the coin away to think on later. Her wand seems to be working properly this morning, so after a quick shower, she magics her suitcase to a smaller size again before slipping it back into her pocket. She doesn't want to have to return to Bill's flat after work to collect her things if she can help it, so she makes sure to gather up all of her belongings before she leaves the room.</p><p>When she walks into the kitchen fifteen minutes later, her frizzy hair has been wrangled into a low ponytail and she's carrying her little houseplant, Marcia, with her. Bill is leaning against the counter with a half-finished cup of tea and The Daily Prophet in his hand. He's dressed in his usual work clothes – er, well, <em>his</em> version of them, anyway. Charcoal grey trousers, a plum colored button-up rolled up to the elbows with a vest on top of that, and his usual dragon-hide boots. His hair has been pulled back into a low ponytail, showing off the fang earring that he wears in his left ear. He glances up at her as she appears and nods to the plate of breakfast that's waiting for her. It looks like he already ate.</p><p>"You know," he says as she wordlessly digs in, "I've been thinking…"</p><p>Uh oh. It's never a good sign when Bill Weasley starts a sentence with those words. She's learned that the hard way over the many years of their friendship. He's not half as mischievous as his twin brothers (bless them), but he definitely has an impetuous streak in his character. The fang earring and long hair is testament enough to that. He might've been Head Boy back at Hogwarts, but he's been known to get her into trouble when she least expects it. She glances up at him, mouth full of omelet, only to find that he's watching her closely.</p><p>Slowly, as if he knows she isn't going to appreciate the offer, Bill continues, "I've got a spare room – "</p><p>"No," Josie cuts in, shutting it down immediately. She shoves a piece of bacon into her mouth and sends him a sharp look, because she knows that he isn't going to drop it that easily. He's far too stubborn for that – something she had also learned the hard way over the years.</p><p>As expected, Bill sends her an exasperated look and says, "You've got nowhere to go, Josie. Be smart about this."</p><p>She purses her mouth, lips forming a tight line, and pushes her breakfast away. "No, Bill," she says again, hoping that he'll take the hint.</p><p>He doesn't, of course, and just crosses his arms. His eyes narrow too, staring at her challengingly. The blue in them seem sharper than they were moments before.</p><p>"We're best friends, Josie. Why is this such a big deal?" he demands.</p><p>Josie clenches her teeth and says, "You're with Fleur, Bill. I can't just move into your flat. It's – I just – I don't want to get in the middle of that."</p><p>Merlin only knows.</p><p>Bill pauses at this and runs a hand through his hair, messing up the ponytail a bit as he does. "She and I already talked about moving in together. She likes having her own place here in England. Besides, mum had a fit when I brought it up, so it would just be you and me."</p><p>He looks a bit uncomfortable when he says it, probably because he isn't used to talking about his relationship with Fleur in front of Josie. Despite being best friends, or ex-best friends if you ask her, they've never really spoken about his relationship with Fleur. From the moment he had gotten together with the French witch, Josie has taken to making herself scarce around him. She already has to watch them be together; she doesn't think she'd be able to survive hearing Bill sing her praises all the time.</p><p>"Yeah, but I'm sure she'll still come over sometimes, and you'll want your space when she does," Josie responds, and stands up.</p><p>Bill frowns. "Just stay until you find a place, then. You're always welcome here, Jos. It feels like I hardly ever see you anymore, and when I do you're always busy or in one of your moods – "</p><p>"One of my <em>moods?"</em> Josie repeats, narrowing her eyes at him. Is that what he's been thinking all this time? That she's just been dealing with some sort of mood swing and just so happens to end up taking it out on him? Merlin, Bill can be really blind sometimes. It's like that time when they were in their seventh year and Brigit Ainsworth had a crush on him. The girl had been so ridiculously obvious about it, but Bill hadn't realized until Josie had sat him down and informed him that when a girl gives you love potion spiked chocolates for Valentine's Day, she wants you. Bill is so blind that he hadn't believed her until Brigit had stalked him during one of his Head Boy patrols and tried to pull him behind a tapestry to snog him.</p><p>Anyhow - she's not sure if she's relieved that he doesn't seem to realize that she's been avoiding him, or annoyed about it. Honestly, how dense can someone be? Does he really not realize that she isn't actually as busy as she always says she is? That she doesn't want to go out to lunch with him and Fleur and be the third wheel? That she doesn't want to talk to him, because then she'd end up roped into a conversation about how perfect Fleur is and how he's never met a girl like her before?</p><p>Bill sighs at her. "Look, I just feel like we've been drawing apart lately and I don't like it. You're my best friend, Josie. You mean the world to me."</p><p>She tries to ignore the familiar hollow pang of her heart when he says this. You'd think she'd be used to it by now – that she'd be able to handle his unintentional rejections a little better – but it still hurts just as much as it always has. She doesn't want to <em>just</em> be his best friend, and she's been struggling to reconcile this for years.</p><p>"I've missed you lately," Bill tells her softly, trying to catch her eye.</p><p>Those who have never been in love with their best friend wouldn't understand the pain that cinches around her heart as Josie stands there in the middle of Bill's kitchen and listens to his soft, endearing words. It is like you are a piece of driftwood floating on the sea. There is nothing to do <em>but</em> float, even when you want to sink to the bottommost corner of the ocean and fade away. You're trapped on the surface a thousand miles out, frantically searching for land so that you can lay down your body and surrender at last. It's a dream, though, because you can't ever surrender. Land will never be found, and you'll only ever be a piece of driftwood that floats to and fro until it vanishes from human recollection.</p><p>She smiles at the countertop, trying to bolster up the courage it takes to raise her eyes and look at him directly. It requires such an incredible amount that it leaves her breathless with exhaustion. When she finally does manage it, she feels as if she's been stripped of everything that she is; fragmented into a million isolated pieces.</p><p>"I've missed you too," she admits. It feels like strange to say it out loud when she's been consumed by the thought for ages now, even before Fleur came along – ever since Bill had decided to move to Egypt for those two long years, and his absence had become the first blow to their friendship.</p><p>They stare at each other for a long moment. Bill seems quietly confused, as if he isn't quite sure why her words feel so weighed down with meaning. He looks like he's trying to find the answer to every question he's ever had. Maybe he is.</p><p>Gone are the days of their playful childhood friendship. Of summers spent at the Burrow under the golden rays of youth. Of whispered conversations had in the privacy of Bill's room, when he'd tell her of his dreams and aspirations and she'd tell him hers. Of the lighthearted teenage moments where he'd hold her hand and drag her across Hogwarts, laughing about something or another and enjoying life.</p><p>She wonders what he'd say if he knew that she's been in love with him since fifth year, when she had looked at his laughing countenance one day and had realized how incredibly handsome he was. The thought had just hit her out of the blue, then, that if she was ever to marry someone, she'd want it to be him.</p><p>The clock on the wall suddenly chimes, drawing them both out of their stupor and reminding them that they really need to get to work. Josie breaks the stare first, startled back to reality as her eyes dart to the time. It's 9 o'clock and if they don't leave right now, they're going to be late. She swallows tightly and turns on her heel, striding to fireplace without another word. She doesn't look back when she takes a handful of floo powder and announces, 'Gringotts', but she can feel his eyes burning into her back as she disappears, perhaps wondering why it seems as if she's running away from him again.</p><p>These days, Josie has a bad habit of doing exactly that, but she'll never tell Bill the reason for it. He's no longer hers, after all. Maybe he never really was.</p><hr/><p>Upon arriving in her office, Josie finds that putting the events of the morning aside is easier than she expects. Artie comes around to give her a couple of folders on several Aztec temples that he wants her to look into. Thankfully, when she flicks through them after he leaves, she discovers that they are firmly set in her area of expertise. Bill and the rest of his team can handle the Egyptian cases; she's much happier to delve into South America. Or, as Wright would say, to 'take a lighthearted jaunt through the fucking rainforest, Devonport'.</p><p>What an arse. Honestly, he says that she wouldn't last a day on his team, but she'd like to see him trying to 'traipse' through the rainforest. Sure, Egypt has its scorpions and the occasional Sphinx, but the Amazon has its own dangers. She'd heard from one of the bankers on the second floor that Wright is deathly afraid of snakes. Josie would pay to see his reaction to a fully grown anaconda – and that isn't even mentioning the poisonous frogs and spiders, or the occasional magical Capybara. Honestly, she doesn't know where Wright got the idea that the South American curse-breaker division isn't as tough as his own. She doubts <em>he'd</em> last a day on <em>her</em> team, especially if he can't handle a fucking snake.</p><p>Josie scoffs beneath her breath and mutters, "Tosser," as she reaches over for her quill. Artie told her to take her time on these assignments, since they aren't as pressing as the current case she's working on. He also knows, though, that once she starts researching a certain temple, it completely consumes her and she usually gets the work done pretty quickly. Her passion is no doubt what has propelled her through the ranks of the South American division. Artie's told her several times now that she's due to receive a promotion, but she knows that she wouldn't be able to go out into the field as often as she does in her current position, and she doesn't think she'd enjoy her job half as much if she couldn't get out of this office every couple of months.</p><p>Her trips to South America are something she's constantly looking forward to. Even now, as she delves into her Aztec research, she can almost feel the hot Mexican sun dancing over her skin and the pleasant tones of Spanish lilting from the mouths of her teammates.</p><p>Despite everything, she finds that she's in a lovely mood come lunchtime. The memories of yesterday seem far away now that she's once more entrenched in her work. By the time she grabs her purse and makes her way to the lobby of the bank, she's even got a skip in her step. She's in the middle of considering where she'll go for lunch when her good mood takes a plummet.</p><p>Thankfully, her bad luck seems to have eased off a bit today, giving her a break after the fiasco of yesterday. That doesn't mean she's in the clear, though. These days, it's only a matter of time before her curse crops up again in one form or another, and while she wouldn't necessarily consider this to be a result of her curse, it certainly seems to stress her out enough to manifest a painful kink in her neck that hadn't been there a moment before.</p><p>The reason for this is, of course, because the moment she steps foot into the lobby of Gringotts, she steps right into the middle of a congratulatory fest.</p><p>"When's the wedding, Weasley?" she hears one of her coworkers ask, and glances to the side to see a group of curse-breakers from the Egyptian division surrounding Bill and Fleur, who look like they're off to lunch as well. She slows her pace without meaning to, watching Fleur's arm settle around Bill's waist. From Josie's position slightly behind them, she can easily make out the simple but lovely engagement band that sits on Fleur's finger.</p><p>"You two look great together. I was so happy to hear about your engagement," one of the secretaries from the banking department gushes, smiling broadly.</p><p>Josie's heart drops as she watches Bill circle his arm around Fleur's shoulders. He thanks the secretary and goes on to say something about the proposal, but Josie doesn't hear because she's too busy thinking about the fact that they <em>do</em> look good together. They look like they were meant to be.</p><p>She suddenly isn't very hungry anymore. Her good mood cracks like the edges of a broken mirror, and she feels at once sick to her stomach. Her heart seems to tremble in her chest, swept up in every fluctuation of the distant and wrenching song that it's been whispering for years.</p><p>Josie clenches down around the strap of her purse and takes a deep breath. She's receiving a few strange glances from passersby, probably wondering why she's just standing there in the middle of the lobby. Moving seems tremendously difficult all of the sudden. It's as if her feet have frozen to the floor, and it isn't until she gets shouldered into by a passing goblin that she remembers how to move.</p><p>"Don't just stand there," the goblin gruffly tells her, sending her an impatient look. Even though he has to physically tilt his head up to address her, Josie gets the distinct impression that he's looking down on her.</p><p>She clears her throat and mumbles, "Right," as she continues on her way, still clutching her purse with tight fingers. She walks right past Bill and Fleur as if she doesn't even see them, keeping her eyes straight ahead in an almost militaristic manner, as if she's marching off of a battlefield after a crushing defeat but is too prideful to admit it. She thinks she sees Bill swing his head towards her as she passes, but she dares not break rank.</p><p>The sky seems to embody her now foul mood when she steps out into the Alley and hurries down the stone stairs of Gringotts. It's dark and grey, still churning with rainclouds from the night before; perfectly dismal. She pops into the first café she sees and orders a bagel and some tea. She's feeling so depressed that she doesn't even bother adding cream or sugar and just drinks it straight, as if hoping that the bitter taste will somehow counteract her bitter mood.</p><p>It doesn't. By the time she's done lifelessly picking apart her bagel and listening to the café workers drone on about their troubles, Josie feels even more bitter than she had when she first stepped inside.</p><p>She returns to her office only halfway through her lunch break. Her neck and shoulders are so sore that she can hardly move, there's a bruise forming on the inside of her arm that hadn't been there an hour ago, and she twists her ankle while she's getting off of the lift. She ends up hobbling down the hall to where her office is located, feeling like a broken toy that's stopped working correctly.</p><p>Fuck, it's bad. Yesterday, her bad luck seemed intent on getting the best of her; today, the curse seems more interested in manifesting on a physical level. She nearly collapses onto the couch across from her desk and even goes as far as to lay down for a few minutes despite the fact that she's got a ton of work to do before the end of the day – <em>and</em> has to figure out where she's sleeping tonight, <em>and</em> go downstairs to have one of the goblins take her to her vault. She'll need money to bribe Tom for a room.</p><p>When all of these things first started happening, Josie was convinced that she was just imagining it. After all, sometimes you just have bad days. Sometimes you end up accidentally dropping things and tearing your shirt and spilling scorching tea into your best friend/man-you're-desperately-love-with's lap. It happens, right? Life sometimes likes to throw curveballs at you to keep you on your feet.</p><p>But then the bloody noses started happening, and the constant sore muscles, and the cuts and scratches and bruises that just appear out of nowhere with no explanation. When she first coughed up blood a few months back, she'd been so scared that she finally forced herself to visit St. Mungo's, afraid that she was dying from some unknown disease she had picked up on her travels. But test after test had come back negative. The doctors had no idea what was wrong with her. There wasn't a reasonable explanation. She was an anomaly.</p><p>That was back when she was still going through the paperwork on her last trip to Peru. There's always more paperwork to file after an expedition. Curses have to be recorded, the trip has to be fully documented; expenses spent and treasure appropriated. It was during this process that she remembered the inscription above the treasury room's large doors, deep within Sami Manqus temple in the Andes Mountains, and she knew that there was a reason for her bad luck and her illnesses after all. It just wasn't something that could be treated by the doctors at St. Mungo's.</p><p>With a sigh, Josie rolls her shoulders and grimaces when her neck makes a sharp popping sound. As the day carries on and she goes through her work load, it only gets worse. By four o'clock, she can hardly turn her neck without cringing against the pain. It doesn't help that she's beginning to stress out again about where she'll go tonight. Bill's flat is out of the question. She's already embarrassed herself enough around him, so at half past four, she decides to make it an early night so that she has a little more time to figure out her latest problem. If push comes to shove, she'll just have to sneak back into the bank and sleep on her couch.</p><p>After getting permission from Artie to leave a bit early, Josie makes her way back into Diagon Alley and starts walking. With few ideas of where to go, she ends up wandering around, ducking into every living complex that she sees and badgering the landlords until they send her off. Again and again she's told that they don't have any unrented flats at the moment. She's beginning to lose steam by the time she passes the entrance to Knockturn Alley on her way to the next complex, which is probably why she ends up lingering for a moment too long.</p><p>One glance into the Alley tells her that it's bustling – far busier than Diagon Alley. It always seems busiest once the sun begins to set and the less savory members of society decide to reappear. From the entrance, Josie sees several darkly cloaked wizards striding purposefully through the dusty street. A vendor nearby is selling shrunken heads, who sneer insults at potential customers as they hang from strings above the cart.</p><p>She knows better than to try her luck in Knockturn Alley, or at least she should, but as Josie stands there and peers down the dark street, she sees a sign that stops her from continuing on her way. Just as she's turning away from the Alley, her eyes land upon it and she pauses again, studying the boldly printed letters silently. A bracing wind shudders up the street as she stands there, rippling through her as she considers her course. She reaches into the pocket of her leather jacket and thumbs over the business card that she had tucked within it.</p><p>It's probably bad idea, trying her luck with a witch from Knockturn Alley – especially since she only ever seems to have <em>bad</em> luck these days. She shouldn't take the chance. It will probably backfire and make her life even worse than it already is. And yet…</p><p>What are the odds that she had encountered a shopkeeper who has Inca blood running through her veins? If what the witch said about her ancestry had been true, wouldn't it be irresponsible not to at least talk to her? It isn't as if she has any other leads right now. She doesn't even know if breaking her curse is possible.</p><p>Josie hesitates only as long as it takes to tilt her collar up against the wind, and then, before she can think about it for even a second longer, she turns into Knockturn Alley and hastens towards the shop. <em>Tesoros del Viejo Mundo </em>is quite a ways down the street, tucked between what looks like a magical taxidermy shop and a place selling Divination equipment. She doesn't linger on the street any longer than she has to, uncomfortable with the way she stands out amongst this crowd of ne'er-do-wells. The moment she steps up to the door, she ducks inside as quickly as she can.</p><p>It immediately feels as if she's entered another world. The light from the fading sun encapsulates the shop in a way that seems ethereal. Golden and bronze artifacts are on display everywhere she looks. She recognizes a lot of what she sees – knotted quipu, intricate medallions, and what looks like a real Moche ceramic pot that sits on its own pedestal in the corner. Overcome with fascination and feeling quite amazed that a shop like this exists in her corner of the world, Josie steps into the fray, leaning down to examine several golden llamas that were used as offerings to the gods. She even sees a jar that's labeled, <em>'Genuine Incan Embalming Grease'</em>, near a small bowl of rolled up recipes.</p><p>The shop isn't just limited to South American cultures, though. Josie sees artifacts from many ancient civilizations spanning the globe: jade pendants from China, clay cylinders from Persia, Egyptian statues and pieces of Greek friezes. She even catches sight of several Native American totem poles along the wall, their faces watching her as she moves about the shop.</p><p>It's as she's studying a display of small bronze daggers that a voice suddenly says, "Incan hunting blades."</p><p>Josie jumps with a gasp and whirls around, her heart startled into a quick and heavy beat. The witch from yesterday is standing in a doorway that Josie hadn't seen before. It's covered with a tapestry that blends into the rest of the room, appearing as yet another artifact. From the way the witch is holding the tapestry aside as she stands in the threshold, it's difficult to see what image the fabric depicts, but the borders of it have a distinctive Mediterranean likeness.</p><p>Once her heart begins to calm down, Josie can't help but blurt, "The Inca weren't big on metallurgy. If these were found in South America, they were probably brought over by the Conquistadors for trading purposes."</p><p>The witch's eyebrows jolt up at this. She looks mildly impressed.</p><p>"I see you know your Incan history," she drawls, stepping into the room. "Which means you would also know that the Tiwanaku <em>did</em> develop bronze tools, which the Inca could have very well discovered and made use of."</p><p>It's Josie's turn to looks mildly impressed.</p><p>"You know your history too," she says, but can't help but add, "though since our knowledge of the Tiwanaku civilization is largely unknown, that's only speculation."</p><p>The witch doesn't look like she agrees, but she merely tilts her head graciously and lets it lie. There are more important topics to discuss, after all.</p><p>"I have to admit that I'm a bit surprised to see you so soon," the woman says.</p><p>Now that Josie isn't drunk off her arse with firewhiskey, she sees that the woman is indeed of South American descent – Peruvian, probably, if her claims of having Inca ancestors are to be believed. She's a middle-aged woman who looks to be in her late forties, a bit heavy-set with bronzed skin and long, dark hair that flows over one shoulder. She's dressed in typical wizarding robes of a deep blue color, which looks strangely conservative in the midst of all this color. Her large, kohl-lined eyes blink owlishly at Josie from where she stands, her age-lined face appearing younger in the light of the fading sun.</p><p>With a twist of her hand, she motions to the threshold that she had just stepped out of and wonders, "Shall we sit down to discuss your curse? I'm very interested to hear more about it. It isn't every day that I come across someone who's been touched with the <em>maldición del oro, </em>especially so far from home."</p><p>Josie's eyebrows raise. She hadn't realized that her curse had a name. She finds it fascinating that a woman like this exists in England, of all places – and just under her nose as well. She'd had no idea that there was a shop selling these sorts of artifacts so close to where she works, and Josie is a bit amazed at how knowledgeable the witch seems to be. She finds herself taking a step towards Catalina Aceves before remembering where she is, and casts a wary glance at the door leading back onto the street. The sun is already setting and she doesn't want to be caught in Knockturn Alley after dark.</p><p>Catalina obviously sees her hesitation, and is quick to brush her worries aside. "Perhaps just a cup of tea, and then you'll be on your way before the sun sets."</p><p>She blinks owlishly at Josie again, and Josie is filled with a strange feeling that she shouldn't follow the woman into that room. Gut instincts really should be trusted. They often lead you in the right direction and save you from all sorts of eventual turmoil, and usually Josie would heed that feeling. But the thing is, she's been suffering from the ramifications of her curse for months now, and nothing she's tried so far has helped. She's afraid that if she doesn't do something, then the curse will eventually sap her very life from her. It may take years, or even decades, but the writing above the doorway of Sami Manqus had been specific enough to make her feel as though the curse will eventually be fatal unless she does something about it.</p><p>It's amazing, what people will do when their lives are in danger; the strength that can be summoned in times of need. If that need is great enough, they will go to the ends of the earth to find a solution. Or, in this case, the end of a small and seemingly unassuming shop.</p><p>When Josie ducks into the room, Catalina smiles. It's a soft sort of smile – kind almost – as if she understands Josie's uncertainty. The smile doesn't necessarily make Josie feel any better about her quick decision, but it does put her at ease as she takes a seat at the circular table in the center of the space.</p><p>She looks around as Catalina prepares the tea, studying the layout of the room. There are some storage boxes stacked up in one corner, but overall, the place seems like an extension of the main shop. The walls are lined with more artifacts similar to the ones in the main room. She sees golden masks, Grecian pottery, and even a set of iron halberds crossed over at the center, of which could belong to any number of ancient civilization. The thing that really captures her attention, though, is the painting that's hung on the far wall directly across from her, which depicts what looks like a group of Conquistadors falling to their knees in front of a mountain of gold.</p><p>"The <em>maldición del oro. </em>It struck them down, too," Catalina says, when she turns around with a tray of tea and sees Josie staring at the painting.</p><p>Josie startles a little, for she had been quite swept up in the imagery of the depiction; the greedy expressions on the Conquistadors' faces as they reached for the piles of golden coins. It is a muggle painting, and so it doesn't move, but Josie can clearly imagine them stuffing their pockets with as much of the gold as they could carry.</p><p>"Never had the Spaniards seen so much gold as when they saw the Inca treasure," Catalina says as she sets the tray onto the table and sits down across from Josie. She pours the tea into two small ceramic cups and pushes one towards Josie, waiting until Josie lifts it to take a sip before she continues. "Greed consumed them. They forgot their homeland, and their lovers, and their family. They desired the gold beyond all else, and they paid for it with their lives."</p><p>Josie inhales, breathing in the scent of foreign spices that wafts up from the tea, and murmurs, "I was told that cursed gold is only a myth."</p><p>At this, Catalina raises an eyebrow and says, "And yet here you are, cursed by gold." Her dark hair shines luxurious in the dim light of the room. It suddenly seems to be threaded through with silver. "Last night, you mentioned an inscription, Josie. What did it say?" Catalina asks after a long moment.</p><p>The sound of her name makes Josie furrow her brow. She puts the tea down and, wary again, wonders, "How did you know my name?"</p><p>Catalina merely lifts an eyebrow and responds, "You told me, at the pub. What did it say?"</p><p>Josie can't remember telling the witch her name, but then again, she can't remember <em>not</em> telling her, and just reaches into her purse to gather several pages of her own personal research. She's been looking into the curse for some time now, without much success. Everything she knows can fit onto these few rolls of parchment. Catalina leans forward and drags the paper towards her, tilting her head curiously as she reads the hastily scrawled inscription that Josie had copied down from memory several months ago.</p><p>People think that the Inca didn't have a writing system and instead used knotted quipu to send messages across their empire, but this is not necessarily true. The major temples and sanctuaries of their people have been kept hidden from the muggle world for many decades now. The Peruvian Council of Magic ensures that much of that ancient culture remains safely in the hands of their own magical population. This inscription had been written above the doorway to the treasure room, etched into stone by use of the same glyphs that can be found in many other temples across Peru, if you know where to look.</p><p>
  <em>Beware who enter here, for those who live by way of greed will perish.</em>
</p><p>Catalina nods as if she understands everything perfectly, and leans back.</p><p>"It is of course the <em>maldición del oro. </em>The curse of the gold. You passed beneath this inscription?"</p><p>Josie nods.</p><p>"And you took a coin for yourself?"</p><p>Josie pauses and hurriedly says, "We all did, it wasn't greed though, it was for posterity's sake – a keepsake if you will."</p><p>Catalina just waves these words away and shakes her head. "You still took a coin, and that is all that matters." She studies Josie's pale, drawn countenance, and says in a more comforting voice, "Worry not, Josephine. I have dealt with the <em>maldición del oro </em>before."</p><p>Josie's eyebrows jerk up into her hairline. She swallows thickly and asks, "You have? When?"</p><p>Catalina shifts the parchment back to Josie and gestures to the tea in front of her. In lieu of their conversation, Josie has forgotten that it was there. Catalina seems to be waiting for her to take another sip, so Josie quickly does, eager to hear more about her experience in handling the curse of Incan gold.</p><p>"I did not always live here in England. I have seen many cases of travelers contracting that curse. In their search for a cure, they would often find their way to me."</p><p>Something about her words seem strange, as if there's a piece of her story missing. But at the word 'cure', Josie presses away her doubt and quickly asks, "And is there a cure?"</p><p>The smile that curls over Catalina's face makes that gut feeling flare to life again, but before Josie can question it, the witch says, "There is a way to break your curse. It is powerful Incan magic; a ritual passed down through the generations of my family. However, I cannot perform the magic without the coins that were taken."</p><p>At this, Josie is quick to reach into her pocket to retrieve the golden coin that she's carried on her person for months now, ever since she realized that it was the reason for her curse. It seemed too precious to leave laying around; too important to overlook.</p><p>Before she can locate it, though, Catalina raises a hand and says, "If it were that easy to break your curse, my dear, the <em>maldición del oro </em>would never have claimed the lives of so many." She nods to the tea in front of Josie, and Josie presses down the urge to sigh impatiently as she grabs the cup and takes another sip. Catalina leans back and watches her swallow before saying, "You must retrieve <em>all</em> the coins that were taken by the members of your expedition. The curse has been placed on everyone who took a coin, and only when the ritual is completed and every coin is returned to the temple can the curse be lifted."</p><p>Josie places the teacup down a little harder than she means to. In a pinched voice, she repeats, <em>"All</em> of the coins? But – that will take me ages! I'd have to track down <em>everyone</em> on that expedition, and it's been months – they may not even have the coins still."</p><p>Catalina lifts her shoulders and responds, "Unfortunately, the ritual will not work without every coin." She blinks at Josie and adds, "If you do not break the curse, you will die a very painful death. The <em>maldición del oro </em>has been known to claim its victims in gruesome ways."</p><p>This makes Josie pause. She pushes back a wave of dread and clears her throat. "…Gruesome?" she wonders, not sure if she really wants to know.</p><p>Catalina stares at her for a long moment before slowly saying, "I have witnessed the slow decay that lays waste to their bodies and drives them to madness. They lose themselves to their greed until it is all they can think about. They spend their days in listlessness and their nights in agony."</p><p>Josie swallows thickly, fingers tight around the small ceramic cup. The tea is nearly gone now, and Catalina's horrific words seem almost sweet in the caressing cadence of her accented voice.</p><p>"You must retrieve the coins, or I cannot help you," the witch finishes, staring at Josie with a strange sheen to her eyes.</p><p>Josie sits there for a long moment as her words wash over her. The more she thinks on it, the more she can see the logic to what Catalina is saying. You cannot solve a polynomial equation with only one variable, and she was not the only one who took a coin from that temple.</p><p>It hadn't been greed that made them do it, but rather a sense of camaraderie; a keepsake to take home with them, after the monumental success of such a difficult job. Incan temples can be difficult to advance through, and that one had been one of the most challenging in Josie's career. It made sense to take a memento. One single coin of Incan gold is worth a lot of money on the black market, but even though Josie hadn't taken hers to get rich, she's a curse-breaker and she knows how these things work. Your intentions, whether good or bad, do not matter.</p><p>"Okay then," Josie sighs. "I guess I'll have to start tracking them down."</p><p>After all, what else can she do? Unless she wants to be driven mad and have her body deteriorate until she can no longer function, she will need to retrieve the other coins.</p><p>Catalina nods, looking pleased. "You'd best get started soon, then. The <em>maldición del oro </em>works differently for everyone, but I can already tell that it has spread rapidly within you."</p><p>This makes Josie sit up straighter. Her heart clenches with fear. She grips the teacup even harder as Catalina gives her a knowing look.</p><p>"You feel the effects often? The bruises, the cuts…" she glances down at Josie's hand, where the bruise on her inner arm has begun to advance towards her wrist. Feeling a bit uncomfortable, Josie tugs her sleeve down to cover it, but Catalina just wonders, "What else have you experienced?"</p><p>"…Muscle pains, headaches…bloody noses," Josie murmurs, then scoffs out a humorless laugh and adds, "incredibly bad luck."</p><p>Catalina nods slowly and responds, "Yes, these are all symptoms. It will only continue to worsen." She pauses then, glancing down at her own teacup and delicately drawing her finger around the rim of it. In that knowing tone, she murmurs, "The man you love. Another symptom."</p><p>Josie jerks her head up to stare at Catalina in unnerved surprise, and Catalina lifts her eyes, staring back at Josie with an indecipherable gleam in her eyes.</p><p>"The curse pushes people away. I am not surprised that this man has rejected you. Some part of him can no doubt feel it festering within you. It has…a strange effect on others. It makes you feel as if you are the loneliest person alive."</p><p>A wave of angry grief washes through Josie at these words. It isn't because she's mad that Catalina had said them, but rather because it's true. She does feel like the loneliest person alive. She feels as if no one cares for her anymore. It's silly though, because <em>she's</em> the one who decided to distance herself from Bill. She's the one who stopped responding to Ginny's letters and set the Weasleys aside. She cut off communication from her parents and friends. She is only lonely because she pushed everyone away.</p><p>But then again –</p><p>Bill hadn't even noticed that she was trying to distance herself from him. Ginny hadn't bothered sending any more letters. Her parents and friends didn't even question why she stopped communicating with them.</p><p>Maybe it <em>is</em> the curse. She was the one who pushed them away, but maybe the curse is the reason why they allowed it.</p><p>Feeling incredibly bewildered by all of this information, Josie sits back and stares sightlessly at the painting of the Conquistadors. Their eyes gleam with madness even now.</p><p>She's only drawn back to the present when Catalina stands up and steps over to the counter where she had prepared the tea. Josie looks over at her as she riffles through the cabinet, searching for something. As she kneels down and pulls out a wooden box that contains about a dozen small vials, she says, "I can give you something for the physical pain of the curse."</p><p>When she hears this, Josie sits up and smiles gratefully. "What is it?" she asks once Catalina has plucked out one of the vials and set it down onto the table in front of her. It's a tiny thing, with a dropper lid. The potion is a very light blue, so much so that in a certain light, it appears clear.</p><p>"Moondew Essence," Catalina responds. "It's a pain reliever." She pauses looking at Josie closely before asking, "Have you heard of it?"</p><p>Josie hums and lifts the vial. "No…but then again, I was never a very good Potions student." She grimaces out a smile, recalling all too clearly Snape's incredible wariness whenever she would hand in her samples. It was as if he thought they would explode the moment he touched them. Honestly, it only happened the one time. There was no need for him to be so leery.</p><p>Catalina hums and gestures for her to take it, so Josie begins to slip it into her pocket. At the last moment, though, she pauses and furrows her brow as she asks, "How much?"</p><p>After all, nothing is ever free, especially around these parts.</p><p>But Catalina merely waves the words away and responds, "Consider it a gesture of good faith. We <em>are</em> partners now, yes?"</p><p>The way she eyes Josie in an almost doubtful fashion has Josie nodding quickly. For some reason, she feels the need to promptly assuage any mistrust that Catalina may have concerning the deal that they've struck. Though, now that Josie is thinking about it, they haven't actually talked about what Catalina would be getting in return.</p><p>As she slips the vial into her pocket, Josie broaches the subject. She doesn't want to agree to something before she knows exactly what she's getting into. She might be a Gryffindor, but she's not <em>always</em> reckless – and this is Knockturn Alley, after all.</p><p>"I don't see how you'd get anything from helping me," Josie carefully begins, not wanting to cause insult. "You never mentioned payment for the ritual."</p><p>Catalina pauses in the middle of picking up the teacups. Again, that strange gleam captures her eyes, but her words are very lighthearted when she says, "I have a…<em>fascination</em> with anything to do with my ancestors. I am happy to help. Payment is not required."</p><p>This ought to feel strange, considering that Catalina Aceves is a Knockturn Alley shopkeeper, but for some reason, Josie doesn't linger on it and merely smiles widely at her in appreciation. "That's very kind of you," she says. When she stands up from her chair, she feels oddly sluggish.</p><p>Catalina just smiles. "Two drops of Moondew should be enough. Come to me when you run out, with coin. I'm happy to be of service with the curse itself, but I'm afraid Moondew Essence can be pricy."</p><p>Right. That makes perfect sense. She's being awfully considerate of Josie's situation, really, especially since she's not asking her to pay for the first vial.</p><p>"I will," Josie responds, and lingers a moment longer by the chair. She casts one more glance at the painting of the Conquistadors before clearing her throat and saying, "I should probably be going."</p><p>Catalina hums in agreement. She gestures to the doorway that leads into the main room of the shop. As she follows Josie past the golden artifacts that gleam brilliantly in the quiet light, she says, "Send word when you collect the rest of the coins, and I will prepare the ritual."</p><p>Josie nods, and opens the door. She pauses in the threshold for a moment, and feels a bolt of confusion shudder through her as she realizes that the sun has long set. Had she really spent so much time in Catalina's shop?</p><p>"…Is everything alright, Josephine?" the witch wonders from behind her. The question makes Josie snap out of her daze and step into the wind.</p><p>"Everything's fine," she responds, but the door is already closing and the ambient light of the shop is instantly replaced by uninviting darkness of Knockturn Alley.</p><p>Josie shivers and pulls her jacket tighter around her frame, patting the pocket of it to make sure that the vial is still there. As she ducks her head and steps into the street, the taxidermy animals in the shop next door blink at her, watching her every move. It's so unnerving that Josie picks up her pace, keeping her eyes trained on the entrance to Diagon Alley some distance ahead. Darkly hooded figures hasten about the street, conducting whatever questionable business they have. She doesn't breathe easy until she reaches the entrance to Diagon Alley, where the air seems inexplicably lighter and the wind less chilled.</p><p>Her trip into Knockturn Alley had taken far longer than she'd anticipated. A glance at the muggle watch on her wrist – a gift from her father – tells her that she'd been in Catalina's shop for nearly an entire hour. She can hardly believe that the time had passed so quickly.</p><p>It's a bit difficult to think about what she needs to do. It's far too late to conduct any more flat-hunting, and there's no way she'd be able to sneak back into her office now that the rest of the workers have left for the day. Gringotts has some of the highest security in the country, full of goblin-magic and other spells that prohibit the common thief from getting inside. She's effectively on her own, now, which is a rather frightening thought.</p><p>As she stuffs her hands into her pockets and ducks her head against the bracing wind that tunnels through the Alley, Josie wracks her brain for places to go. She supposes that if Tom still doesn't have a room, she could always apparate to Hogsmeade and see if Rosmerta has a vacancy. The older woman had grown a bit of a soft spot for her after she'd helped Bill break up a fight during one of their weekend Hogsmeade trips back in sixth year. She'd accidentally jumped in front of a mean right-hook from a seventh-year Slytherin and had received a nasty broken nose for it. Rosmerta had been singing her praises for the rest of the day and had plied her with free butterbeer, even though Josie hadn't actually done all that much. Still, she had worn her injuries as badges of honor and Bill couldn't stop talking about her reckless fortitude for days afterwards, despite his initial concern. She always did have a bit of a backbone – too much of one, sometimes, as Bill used to say.</p><p>She's just taking her first step down the street, wondering why she's feeling so numb to the panic that should be encroaching in on her, when a voice calls her name and she lets out an impatient sigh.</p><p>"What are you doing here, Bill?" she wonders when he falls into step beside her. She feels his eyes on the side of her face, but she doesn't turn to look at him and just keeps walking. Honestly, doesn't he have other things to do than roam around the Alley at night? He's got a gorgeous fiancée, after all. Shouldn't they be out having a good time?</p><p>"I was worried when you never came home," Bill informs her, glancing over his shoulder at the entrance of Knockturn Alley, where he had seen her step out of. Apparently, he was right to be worried. He can't imagine why she thought it was a good idea to go there, especially at this hour.</p><p>Josie rolls her eyes. "I told you this morning, Bill – "</p><p>"Yes, I know what you said," he interrupts, and reaches over to catch her shoulder and pull her to a stop. She spins around in annoyance, her face set into a challenging expression, and waits. Thankfully, she doesn't have to wait very long before he purses his mouth and murmurs, "Please tell me you weren't flat-hunting in Knockturn Alley, Jos. I've got a perfectly good spare room and Fleur doesn't mind you crashing with me until you get back on your feet. I talked to her about it during lunch today."</p><p>For some reason, Josie feels inexplicably angry that he talked to Fleur about her situation. Well – actually, she knows exactly why she's angry: it's because Fleur would never get kicked out of her flat. If anything, the landlord would have begged for her to stay, because everyone loves Fleur Delacour. Jealousy crowds through Josie's chest. Of course Fleur wouldn't mind if she stayed with Bill. Josie is just Bill's best friend. Everyone knows that Bill doesn't see her as a woman, so why <em>would</em> Fleur have a problem with it?</p><p>Jealousy is a terrible monster, really. It has a most peculiar effect on people – the power to shift your line of sight just enough and make you believe that you're seeing things as they truly are. You're not, of course, but you don't realize it. When jealousy digs its claws into you, you say things that you don't mean, and do things that you know you shouldn't, but you say and do them anyway because you just can't help yourself.</p><p>That's probably why Josie mutters, "Well if <em>Fleur Delacour</em> thinks it's okay, then I suppose it must be. She <em>obviously</em> knows what's best for everyone."</p><p>It's just a murmur that the wind tries to carry off, but Bill hears it. He hears it and he immediately frowns, and Josie knows from the way his eyes crease at the edges that he's not happy. She's seen that expression on his face enough times in her life – and most especially in the last few months – to recognize it instantly.</p><p>"That was uncalled for," Bill tells her, his mouth still drawn down.</p><p>Jealousy and pride – the two things that Josie struggles with the most, these days – well up inside her.</p><p>"Was it?" she asks, and shrugs his hand off her shoulder. She starts walking again, half expecting him to let her go. But he doesn't, because he's got a heart too loyal for his own good, even though his best friend has been actively trying to trample it for months now.</p><p>"Josie," he calls, and catches up.</p><p>She doesn't stop, though a piece of her wants to. That's always the conundrum, isn't it? One part of her wants to run away from him – to run to the ends of the earth if she has to, just to get away, because being near him hurts so damn much that it's difficult to breathe around him. The other part wants to sink into him, to hold on so tightly that he will never leave her. Knowing that he only sees her as a friend hadn't been so terrible before he started seeing Fleur.</p><p>"Josie, come on. Stop," he says, and – damn him – his voice is just soft enough to make her heart shake into submission. God, he could ask her to do anything and she'd do it. That's exactly why being in love with him is so scary.</p><p>She sighs and stops and waits, just as she's been doing for nearly ten years. Waiting for Bill. Waiting for the one thing she knows she'll never get.</p><p>"Just tell me you're not going to get a place in Knockturn Alley," he sighs, sounding genuinely concerned. "It's dangerous."</p><p>She studies the concern in his eyes silently and sighs. Bill is never <em>not</em> concerned for her. He was worried when she applied to Gringotts with him, worried when she headed off to Peru on her first assignment as a curse-breaker, and now he's worried about her living situation. He can't bring himself not to worry. It's part of why she loves him so much. He's always looked after her, and there was once a time when she thought that maybe it was because he loved her, too. Now she knows that it's only because he sees her as a younger sister. A best friend. He <em>does</em> love her, but not in the way she wants.</p><p>Swallowing back a bitter crush of heartache, Josie tells him, "I'm not flat-hunting in Knockturn Alley, Bill, so you can go home and rest easy, now."</p><p>But – damn him – he doesn't go home. Instead he just keeps following her down the street, slipping back into step with her as if he hadn't heard her obvious brush-off at all.</p><p>"You know Tom won't have any rooms," he says. "It's nearly summer. Busy season."</p><p>Josie ignores him.</p><p>"I doubt Rosmerta will, either, what with parents wanting to be in Hogsmeade for graduation," he adds.</p><p>Damn him for knowing her so well. She scowls.</p><p>"What will you do when they both tell you that?" he asks, sounding unconcerned with her continued silence.</p><p>Josie glowers at his profile, grits her teeth, and impatiently fires, "I don't know, William. Maybe I'll go flash my knickers on a street corner. I'm sure there's <em>some</em> man out there who would want me."</p><p>This is, apparently, not the right thing to say. Besides her annoyed use of his full name, her words seem to draw forth some sort of over-protective brotherly disdain from him, and he's quick to turn his head and stare at her in unamused perplexity.</p><p>"Don't say that," he gruffly tells her, seemingly a little put-off. He slings an arm around her shoulders and pulls her into his side, and for a moment she'd like to sink into him and hold on tightly. Then with a soft exhalation, he says, "Any man would want you, Josie. You're perfect."</p><p>And that's when she remembers why she wants to run away from him, to the ends of the earth if she has to, because the pain that sears through her chest in that moment nearly staggers her. After all, if she's so perfect, why doesn't <em>he</em> want her?</p><p>She bites down hard on her tongue and doesn't respond, because she's afraid that she might say something stupid, and so she just says nothing at all. That's okay, though, because Bill has enough words for them both.</p><p>"If Tom doesn't have a room, you're coming back to my place. I'm not going to let you sleep in an alleyway tonight." Bill pulls her in closer and sighs, "Honestly, Jos. I love you, you know?"</p><p>Josie just swallows tightly and ducks her head, still biting her tongue.</p><hr/><p>Tom doesn't have a room. He's already shaking his head before Josie even reaches the counter. It doesn't stop her from asking, of course, just in case, but apparently her womanly wiles still aren't working.</p><p>"Tom, fancy seeing you here again," Josie laughs. It sounds slightly stilted, probably because the proprietor is giving her an exasperated look. Bill sidles up to the counter beside her and waits for the inevitable, which rather annoys her. Over his shoulder, she jerks her thumb at Bill and gives Tom a pleading look, but apparently her message gets lost in translation because Tom just blinks at her in confusion. Damn.</p><p>"Look," she begins, a bit exasperated herself. She tries to silently tell Tom that she really needs a room, because otherwise Bill is going to insist that she stay with him and she just can't <em>do</em> that, because she's in love with him and living with your best friend who you're in love with when they're in love with someone else is generally <em>not recommended</em> – but Bill ends up turning his head as she's trying to mime all of this out and Josie has to stop halfway through. It's probably just as well, seeing as Tom is now wearing an expression of supreme bewilderment.</p><p>"Sorry, love," Tom shrugs, looking between her and Bill with a raised eyebrow. "Nuthin' I can do for you."</p><p>Josie grits her teeth. She bets he'd give <em>Fleur</em> a room, if she asked. Hell, he'd probably give her <em>his</em>, and then offer to sleep behind the counter.</p><p>Bill looks frustratingly happy with this news. He sends Tom a pleasant smile and loops an arm around Josie's shoulders. "Right, thanks, Tom," he says, and begins to drag her off.</p><p>Josie wrangles out of his hold just long enough to insistently ask, "Do you know if – "</p><p>"Doubt it," Tom cuts in, apparently knowing what she's about to ask. He eyes the arm the Bill promptly slings back around her shoulders and mutters, "Rosie's probably booked up for the next month, at least. Hogwarts graduation an' all."</p><p>Fuck. Josie scowls.</p><p>At the end of her leash and annoyed that Bill is trying to pull her away again, she blurts out, "Well then which street corner would you say is the busiest?"</p><p>Unfortunately (or not), Tom doesn't get a chance to answer this inquiry. His eyebrows furrow in confusion and he opens his mouth to likely demand why she's asking a question like that. Before he can, though, Bill rolls his eyes and dryly says, "Goodnight, Tom. Come on, Josie."</p><p>She grumbles, trying to elbow him away from her. She's frankly too exhausted to try making a run for it, but the thought does cross her mind as she forlornly steps back onto the street with Bill on her heels.</p><p>"I don't know why you're being so stubborn about this," he comments as he follows Josie down the street. His flat is on the other end of the Alley, closer to where Gringotts is located. She's hoping that walking there might give her more time to think of an excuse – or, if nothing else, to mentally prepare herself. Last night excluded, she hasn't actually been alone with him for ages, minus the brief conversations they have at work.</p><p>"You're <em>engaged,"</em> she reminds him, but it's clear that she's the only one who understands the significance of this. After all, why would his being engaged be a solid reason for her not to crash at his flat until she gets back on her feet? She's his best friend. He'd make the same offer to anyone in need, because he's Bill and he's a wonderfully generous man.</p><p>Looking perplexed, he shrugs, "Yeah…? I told you that Fleur is okay with it."</p><p>His continued insistence that his fiancée has no problem with Josie being around him – <em>alone,</em> in his <em>flat,</em> for <em>hours</em> at a time – is most definitely not helping her cause.</p><p>"It's the – the principle of it, though!" she exclaims, clearly frustrated now and letting it leak out into her voice. She whirls around to face him and the action is so sudden that he nearly runs right into her. "I mean, what would people think if they knew that you had another woman staying with you, and she <em>wasn't</em> your fiancée?"</p><p>She should have just kept her silence. At least then, she wouldn't have to watch his face break out into an amused grin, and her heart wouldn't have to experience the painful crush of hearing him chuckle, "Oh come on, Josie. Everyone knows you're my best friend. It <em>is</em> possible for a man and a woman to have a platonic relationship, you know."</p><p>Her cheeks flush at this, though she's not sure what emotion is the cause. It could be any number of feelings: annoyance that he's so quick to brush her words aside, pain to hear him come out and say it like that, embarrassment in that there's <em>nothing</em> platonic in the way she feels about him.</p><p>Bill's amused grin fades slightly at seeing her all flustered, but he looks none the wiser as to the reasons why. When he reaches out to steer her down the street once more, she falters a bit at the move, half-tempted to plant her feet and refuse to walk entirely. Until, of course, Bill murmurs, "Stop being stubborn and let me take care of you. That's what friends are for."</p><p>Right. That's what friends are for.</p><p>Friends are supposed to look out for each other. They're supposed to want to help you when you're in a bad spot; to give you some semblance of support, even if it's just to crack open a bottle of firewhiskey and listen to you moan about your problems. In fact, even considering the recent developments of the past eight months, Josie is quite sure that she would be doing the exact same thing for him if their situations were reversed. Well, if he was kicked out of his flat, then he'd probably just move in with his fiancée or head back to the Burrow, but still. The sentiment remains the same. She wouldn't even hesitate to offer him a place to stay if he needed it, which is no doubt why he's so confused at her obstinance.</p><p>Can she really be blamed for it, though? Having him take care of her is painful for her. She wants so much more than just a shoulder to cry on. She wants his every layer and every piece. She wants to hold each segment of his heart and know that he is giving it to her because he loves her. That he isn't fueled by the love of friendship but by the love of a partner.</p><p>But love isn't something you can take. It's not something that can be manipulated, or possessed. Love it a flighty creature that soars beyond the realm of human conception. Trying to understand it is futile; to capture it is impossible. Love is impervious to selfishness. When it feels that it is being conquered, it merely soars away as quickly as it had come. She wishes it would leave forever, sometimes, but then she catches sight of the way Bill's eyes shine when he's happy, and she can't help but fall into the familiar warmth of his company again and again.</p><p>"What do you want for dinner?" he asks when they finally traipse into his flat about ten minutes later. He collapses onto his couch to work at the laces of his dragon-hide boots, not noticing the uncomfortable way Josie lingers in the hallway by the door. She stuffs her hands into her pockets and rocks on her heels awkwardly.</p><p>"Not really hungry," she mutters, just as her stomach betrays her with a low growl.</p><p>Bill's face relaxes into a grin. "That's not what it sounds like," he jokes, and she can't help herself from smiling in amusement for a moment, before her smile fades.</p><p>Whether he notices her discomfort or not, Bill doesn't remark on it. Instead, he merely leans back on the couch, abandoning his laces for a moment to just look at her. His arms lock behind his head, casually supporting his neck as he stretches his legs out. He is the picture of carefree nonchalance as he nods to the space beside him and says, "Sit with me for a while? I wanted to ask you something."</p><p>Once, Josie wouldn't have hesitated to throw herself onto the couch and curl up next to him. He would have slung his arm around her waist and dragged her into his side. They would have fallen into the warmth of their friendship just as easily as breathing. Now, Josie just cautiously takes a seat at his side and, though his arm falls onto the back of the couch behind her head, he seems to feel that she needs to keep her distance and he doesn't drag her into him.</p><p>Bill is quiet for a moment, as if he's considering his words. "I know it isn't…traditional, I guess? But," he turns to her, shifting his knee so that his body is angled towards hers, "we've been best friends for ages now. You know everything about me. Hell, you even asked Delilah Brooks to the dance for me back in sixth year, remember?"</p><p>Josie lets out a strangled laugh at this reminder. She remembers that all too well. She'd been waiting for Bill to ask <em>her,</em> since they usually went to those sorts of things together. When he had pulled her aside after one of their classes, she'd thought that he was going to – until he started gushing about how Delilah was giving him loaded glances all week. Apparently when it comes to girls that Bill is actually interested in, he isn't quite as blind, because instead of asking Josie to the dance, he had said, 'would you be the best friend a guy could ask for and ask Delilah if she's going with anyone yet?'</p><p>Josie's heart softly rattles, but she presses away the pain and just laughs again. "Please. Every girl wanted you, Billy. She would've been mad to turn you down."</p><p>The use of his nickname slips out without intention. He grins down at her upon hearing it. She rarely calls him that anymore, and it seems to bolster him somehow.</p><p>"My point is that there's no one else that I'd want to stand next to on the alter," Bill tells her, and – Merlin – for a split second she has this ridiculous, insane thought that he means he'd like to stand next to her as her <em>husband,</em> but then –</p><p>"You'll be my Best Man, won't you, Josie?" he asks hopefully, still smiling that warm smile. The one that she could never say no to. The one she fell in love with.</p><p>A brief silence falls between them as Bill waits expectantly for her answer, and Josie sits very still and tries to keep her smile firmly in place. It's hard. It shakes and trembles alongside the beat of her heart. She hadn't realized it could break even more than it already has, but here it is, fragmenting into yet another piece.</p><p>"Of course," she breathes around the pain. "Of course, Billy."</p><p>What are friends for?</p><p>He grins and leans closer to wrap his arms around her, finally dragging her into his side just like he's always done. Then, laughing, he turns his head to press a thankful kiss to her temple, and she closes her eyes as her heart trips around the pain.</p><p>"I can't wait," he eagerly tells her, then pulls back to raise an eyebrow and demand, "You won't embarrass me in the speech, will you?"</p><p>It is impossible to put into words the excruciating strength that it takes for her to keep smiling.</p><p>He chuckles and pulls her back into his embrace, and she – God, she's a piece of driftwood again, and she's floating in the middle of the ocean. Only this time, she's found land, and it's warm and real as she leans against it. But the waves are already lapping at her and pulling her away, and she can't surrender so instead she just smiles and pretends that she's fine with it.</p><p>After all, what are friends for?</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Never Move in with said Best Friend</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks for the feedback on the last chapter! Next update will be at the end of the week on either Friday or Saturday</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  <strong>Chapter Three | Never Move in with said Best Friend</strong>
</p><p>Josie almost wishes she could say that living with Bill is harder than she'd expected, but the truth is, she rarely sees him despite the fact that they've been sharing his flat for the last week. This is mainly because she's taken to spending late nights at the office, leaving hours after her fellow curse-breakers and returning to Bill's place long after he's asleep. On the few nights that she does return early, Bill isn't always there, but when he is, she has a viable excuse handy: she's got more work to do.</p><p>It's true, though it isn't work that she's being paid by Gringotts to conduct. Since her meeting with Catalina, Josie has begun the tiring process of tracking down every member of the original expedition to Sami Manqus,the temple that she wishes she had never gone to.</p><p>The party members who are assigned to the temples are always changing. Being a curse-breaker, especially one who works out in the field, can be a transient job. She has coworkers from all over the world, some of which she works with for only one job before they are reassigned somewhere else. She's incredibly thankful that the expedition to Sami Manqus had been a relatively tight-knit group. The trip to Sami Manqus had seen two Bolivian curse-breakers, a Peruvian local, and an Ecuadorian historian with a vast knowledge of the Inca culture.</p><p>Recalling the members had been easy enough after looking through the documents she had filed upon her return to England eight months ago. The challenge lies in actually finding them. As she said, curse-breaking can be a transient vocation, and she quickly discovers that it's rather difficult locating her previous coworkers when she's currently living halfway across the globe.</p><p>She figures that her first step ought to be to form a plan. The Peruvian, a young man by the name of Juan Garcia, should be the easiest to find, seeing as his role to play had been mainly to guide them to the temple. It's the others that will prove more difficult. Salvador and Mauricio Moreno, the Bolivian brothers, could be anywhere at this point, and from Josie's conversations with Fiorella Perez during the expedition, she knows that the historian doesn't just work in the Ecuadorian Institute for Magical Learning. As a researcher, she's often off campus conducting field work, sometimes with groups of students and sometimes as a solo researcher.</p><p>If only this was the least of her worries, Josie would be able to handle it better. But, as it is, living with Bill and trying to juggle all of her other work responsibilities at Gringotts proves to be a challenge that quickly exhausts her. She gets little sleep because of her research, and she knows that Bill is starting to wonder what's going on with her. So far, she's managed to wrangle herself out of their conversations with her work excuses, both at the flat and in the office, but she knows Bill. He just can't help but get in the middle of her life. Best mate and all.</p><p>That also brings her to another issue. She hadn't originally intended on approaching Fleur to make sure that the woman is, in fact, alright with Josie living with Bill for the foreseeable future, but that's what she ends up doing when she heads into work that morning. She never thought that she'd be stressed out over living with the man she's been best friends with for over half of her life, but here she is, stressing – over trying to keep her feelings for him tightly locked away, over ensuring that he doesn't ask too many questions about why she's digging through a case that's been closed for eight months now, and over Fleur Delacour's reaction to her living with her fiancé.</p><p>Turns out that she doesn't have to worry about <em>that</em> one too much, though, as Fleur is quick to reassure her when Josie awkwardly brings it up.</p><p>"Oh Jozephine, don't worry so much! I know that you are best friends with Billy. 'E's told me all about your relationship," Fleur laughs when Josie stops by her desk on the way to her office. With a genuine look of concern, the French woman adds, "If you need anyzing – anyzing at all – just let me know."</p><p>Josie doesn't know what's worse: that Fleur calls Bill 'Billy' or that she is absolutely unconcerned with the fact that another woman is living with him. Josie doesn't stick around for too long after that, and just sends Fleur a strained smile before making a quick escape.</p><p>As she pushes open the door of her office, she childishly mutters in a mock French accent, "Billy's told me all about your relationship! Don't worry so much <em>Jozephine!"</em></p><p>She scoffs and shuts the door a little harder than is strictly necessary, falls into her chair, and rips out her hair tie. As she's massaging her fingers over her scalp, she snorts, "'Billy'? I thought he only let <em>me</em> call him that."</p><p>Then she realizes that she's acting like a child and not the experienced and mature woman that she is, and groans as she sets her elbows down on her desk and drops her face into her hands.</p><p>"God, Josie, pull yourself together," she mumbles.</p><p>It's just – Merlin, what happened to her? Back at Hogwarts, she had boys drooling over her wherever she went. She's always had a lot of confidence – perhaps more than she should have – and she's always figured that she was pretty fit. Her somewhat reckless taste in fashion had only served to make her stand out, even in her Hogwarts uniform. With her disregard for properly tying her tie and wearing trainers most of the time, she had racked up quite a few detentions for improper dress. And then – Merlin, <em>then</em> – when her and Bill had been mucking about in muggle London one day after passing their apparition tests, and saw the black leather jacket in one of the shop windows – well, let's just say that her love of black leather has only grown since then, which men like to tell her is incredibly sexy.</p><p>It helps that being a curse-breaker is always a great way to break the ice when it comes to flirting with men. She had been quick to discover just how glamorous and sexy her vocation is to the opposite sex. Honestly, if she got a sickle for all the times she's been asked things like, 'Have you ever been fucked in one of those treasury rooms? I've heard that curse-breakers can get a bit kinky when they're alone in an ancient temple miles underground', she'd be rich by now. She also would have won the world record for 'number of times you can slap a man in one night' – though, to be fair, she doesn't <em>always</em> mind those questions. She is a woman and she does have needs, you know, despite the fact that Bill obviously sees her as just a mate.</p><p>So anyway, why isn't Fleur more concerned that she's living with <em>Billy?</em> Maybe she just isn't as attractive as she thought she was. Bill is just Josie's best friend. There's absolutely no reason for Fleur to be wary that Josie is living with him now. After all, Bill's taste in women has always been apparent to her. Frizzy dark curls and plain brown eyes aren't really his thing. He likes blonde hair and porcelain skin, blue eyes and gentle personalities; the more feminine, the better. Josie is none of that. No one has ever described her as being 'gentle' or 'feminine'. She'd probably be quite offended if anyone did, for that matter.</p><p>In a thoroughly demoralized mood, Josie throws herself into her work. No matter what she does, though, she can't stop thinking about the way Fleur had brushed off Josie's worries so breezily. Her words seep into Josie's thoughts all day. When she's has a meeting with Artie and some other curse-breakers in the South American division that afternoon, all she can think of is the way Fleur had laughingly said, <em>"I know that you are best friends with Billy! 'E's told me all about your relationship."</em> When she dives into her paperwork and research regarding the new assignments Artie had given her last week, she can't stop thinking about the way Fleur had said,<em> "If you need anyzing – anyzing at all – just let me know," </em>in her infuriatingly attractive French accent.</p><p>Damn that woman for being so perfect. Josie would normally just put it down as Fleur being part Veela, but even she can't deny that the woman is genuinely nice – which only makes it all the more difficult to truly hate her despite the fact that she's engaged to the man Josie has loved for far too long to be considered normal.</p><p>Couldn't she have fallen for someone else? Someone who doesn't see her as a friend or a sister? Someone who finds her as attractive and alluring as Fleur Delacour? God – at this point, anyone would do.</p><p>Josie stays behind after the rest of her coworkers clock out for the day. Her aggravation settles down after a while, and by the time she's done with her research on one of the temples Artie has assigned her to study, she's eager to get into her other research on the Sami Manqus expedition. By seven o'clock, she's restlessly putting together a plan to convince Artie to let her head to Peru to deal with the latest Incan assignment herself, which will buy her a week or so to track down at least one of the original members, if not more of them.</p><p>Oh - also by seven o'clock, her work gets interrupted by one Bill Weasley.</p><p>"Still here?" his voice drawls from the door. He must have opened it without her seeing, because she's too busy consulting a map of South America to notice, leaning over her desk as she attempts to figure out who to locate first.</p><p>Startled, Josie inhales sharply and mumbles, "Merlin, Bill. Don't sneak up on me like that."</p><p>She's expecting him to brush this aside and explain why he's here, seeing as he should have returned to his flat by now. Instead, he says, "If <em>anyone's</em> sneaking around, I suppose it's you, Josie."</p><p>There's a slighted tone to his voice that has her pausing, not expecting to hear it. She raises an eyebrow at him and straightens her back. "What's that supposed to mean?" she wonders in a purposefully light voice, and pushes back a strand of curly hair as it falls into her eyes.</p><p>He frowns at her and steps into the office. He doesn't have his briefcase with him, which makes her wonder if he <em>had</em> in fact returned to his flat, only to come back when he saw that she wasn't there.</p><p>"You know, when I offered you the spare room, I thought I'd actually get to <em>see</em> you more often," is all he says in response. His voice is a bit lighter now, too, but if there's anyone Josie knows like the back of her hand, it's Bill Weasley, and she can hear the frustration lurking just behind his words as clear as day. Bill stares at her closely, as if he's trying to figure her out, and slowly adds, "It's like I'm living with a ghost."</p><p>Josie just shrugs. Her leather jacket creaks subtly with the movement. She looks back down at the map, mildly accepting his words and adding on a few of her own, "A very busy, workaholic ghost."</p><p>Bill doesn't laugh at this like she expects him to. In fact, he frowns deeper.</p><p>"What are you working on?" he asks, stepping over to her desk to peer down at the map. "You've never actually told me." There's still an edge to his voice, as if he's quietly reprimanding her for her distance, but Josie ignores it.</p><p>Since putting in the transfer to move from Egypt back to England a year ago, Bill has accustomed himself to the amount of paperwork that goes on behind the scenes of the curse-breaking career. After all, there are arrangements to be made before you can go gallivanting off to an ancient temple. The long process of obtaining permits is only the beginning. Once the case is underway, every little thing needs to be documented. Every element of the job must be written down, from the first day of the expedition to the moment the curses are broken. Then, after all of that, there's even more paperwork to deal with – filing the documents, recording the valuables that were brought back, writing final reports on the case itself for the research department. He knows how much work goes into it, and he also knows that Josie has always been keen on proving herself. Female curse-breakers are a bit of a rare breed, to be honest. It's a dangerous job. As Wright likes to say, 'this is man's work'.</p><p>It's not necessarily that strange that Josie has a lot of work to do. What is strange is the way she awkwardly pulls the map away from his curious eyes when he gets nearer to it.</p><p>"Just researching an Aztec site is all," she informs him, not looking at him directly.</p><p>Now, Josie may know Bill like the back of her hand, but Bill knows Josie just as well. She's never been good at lying to him.</p><p>"Yeah?" he wonders, raising his eyebrow. He sits on the edge of her desk and reaches out to pull the map open before she can roll it up. His eyes flicker over it, noting the many red lines drawn over the parchment. With a curious hum, he looks at Josie and deliberately asks, "I thought the Aztec Empire was in Mexico. Why're you looking into Peru?"</p><p>The way Josie briefly falters at his question only solidifies his suspicion that she's lying to him. For what reason, though? The memory of her leaving Knockturn Alley the other night flashes through his mind and makes him frown.</p><p>"Oh. That's just for another case. Like I said, workaholic," she hastily says, and laughs awkwardly as she takes the map back and rolls it up a little too quickly.</p><p>Bill hums again. The sound is a little too perceptive for her liking, so she hurriedly asks, "You're not going out to dinner tonight?"</p><p>He raises an eyebrow at her and shrugs, "If you want to, I'm willing."</p><p>She stumbles again before snorting, "I meant with Fleur, you dolt. I'm way too – "</p><p>"Busy, yeah, I know," he finishes for her, and she falls silent at the frustration that is quick to return to his eyes.</p><p>He purses his mouth, thinks about her suspicious activity since moving in with him, and slowly wonders, "What's going on, Josie? Are you in trouble or something?" When her eyes widen just so, he turns towards her and adds, "You know you can talk to me."</p><p>His tone is so sincere, and his eyes so warm, that it takes Josie a moment to collect herself. She wasn't expecting him to ambush her in her office like this, but she supposes that she isn't necessarily surprised. Bill has always had a tendency of getting involved in her life, and normally she wouldn't mind it, but…things are different these days.</p><p>She waves his words off and says, "I'm just busy, Bill. I've got a ton of cases to go through – "</p><p>"Let's head back to the flat and I'll make us some dinner," he interrupts, not looking like he's all that interested in hearing her excuses.</p><p>She frowns at him. "I just told you that I'm busy."</p><p>Maybe it's her impatient tone, or simply the way she's been avoiding him all week, but Bill seems to have reached his limit. His generous patience has all run out, it seems, when he stands up with a frustrated huff and frowns, "What happened to us, Jos? Lately I feel like you can't stand to be around me or something. Did I do something wrong?"</p><p>She is quick to return, "Of course not – Bill, I'm just <em>busy."</em></p><p>At this, he lets out a humorless laugh and mutters, "Yeah. Too busy to be in my presence for more than two minutes at a time." With that, he sends her a glower and turns on his heel, striding out of her office before she can call him back.</p><p>Josie sighs, frustrated as well, and goes after him. By the time she reaches the door, he's already halfway down the hall, his long legs setting a fast pace as he heads to the lift.</p><p>"Bill," she calls. When he doesn't stop, she mutters a curse beneath her breath and follows. "Bill, come on – would you just liste – "</p><p>"I'm <em>trying</em> to listen to you, Josie," he suddenly responds, spinning around so suddenly that she nearly runs into him. Before she knows what's going on, he's grabbing her shoulders and raising his voice. "You won't <em>talk</em> to me! Merlin, Josie, I'm your best friend and you won't even tell me what's wrong!"</p><p>Her heart shudders again. It's like a leaf in a hurricane and it trembles, just like her voice when she says, <em>"Nothing's</em> wrong, Bill."</p><p>But he can see her. He's always seen her.</p><p>"Why are you lying to me?" he whispers, and just as quickly as it had come, his anger leaves him. He's never been very good at being angry with her. His fingers tighten around her shoulders, and then he suddenly pulls her into his chest and wraps his arms around her, tucking his face against her hair as he hoarsely admits, "I feel like I'm losing you, Jos."</p><p>Yes, her heart is trembling, and she knows she should pull away from him and his frustratingly perfect hugs, but she's never been very strong when it comes to Bill. He's always made her weak, even before she realized the reasons why. And – god, it just feels so <em>right,</em> holding him. It feels like the world falls back into place, as if he possesses within his nature a gravitational force that she can't help but fall into. Without it, she spins out of orbit and loses herself to the endlessness of the universe.</p><p>"You're not losing me, Billy," she mumbles against his broad shoulder, and closes her eyes. When she wraps her arms around him and hugs him tightly, she berates herself for it. It just makes everything so much harder when he pulls away.</p><p>And he does. He always does. She doubts he even realizes he's doing it, but he does.</p><p>Eventually, he'll go back to Fleur. He'll go back to his work. He'll go back to ruffling her hair like he used to do when they were thirteen and he decided that his best mate needed a better nickname, one that only he could use.</p><p>"<em>How about 'Jos'?" he'd asked on their way back to the common room.</em></p><p>
  <em>She had laughed at him and scoffed, "That's so unoriginal, Bill."</em>
</p><p><em>He had just shrugged, and said, "But it'll be </em>my<em> name for you – and you're name for </em>me<em> can be Billy. I don't let just anyone call me Billy, you know."</em></p><p>Right. Only Fleur Delacour, his fiancée. The woman he's going to marry. The reason Josie will never hold him for very long, before he pulls away from her yet again.</p><p>Bill is like a bird. Just when she thinks he's here to stay, he flies off.</p><p>With a deep sigh, he pulls back and runs his thumb over her cheek. "It scares me sometimes. The thought of losing you," he confesses quietly, and doesn't seem to see her reaction to his words. The way she bites her lip to stop it from quivering. The way she turns her eyes away from his close gaze.</p><p>Yes, he's like a bird, and she's a tree that remains deeply rooted no matter the season, planted firm and strong and solitary, bent just so against the wind. And she thinks she'll always love him, because that's just how she is. Too enamored for her own good. Too willing to look the other way when he says that he's afraid of losing her, and then turns around and flies off. See, that's the core of her problem – the reason she's so rooted in place. Bill knows that he can always return to her, and does, time and time again. And just when she thinks that maybe she can turn her eyes to a different direction, he flies again to her and she's back at square one, too weak to do anything but welcome him with open arms.</p><p>She has to be stronger. She can't just keep letting him in, only to be forced to let him go after he takes his respite. Soon enough, Bill is going to belong to Fleur completely, and if she doesn't rip the bandage off early on then it will be impossible to later. So when he sighs and suggests in that lovely voice of his, "Let's head home, Jos. We can get some dinner and talk about old times. Sounds nice, right?"</p><p>It does sound nice, especially because he called his flat her home. A tempting warmth thrills through her before she can remind herself of the decision she had only just made, and she opens her mouth to say 'yes' before she remembers herself. Instead she reaches up to curl her fingers around the hand that rests on her cheek, and tries to smile. "I really shouldn't, Bill. I have an important meeting tomorrow that I need to prepare for, and I think I'll be heading out to Peru soon for this case, so there's a lot of paperwork to do."</p><p>For a moment, it looks like he means to argue. The soft blue of his eyes flashes just so, and his lips tighten into a line for several brief moments. He sighs, "Why do I feel like you're avoiding me these days?"</p><p>Josie blinks at him in surprise and wrangles down her nervous reaction to these words. "I'm busy, that's all. I promise," she tells him, hoping that her voice is strong.</p><p>Yes, it's a lie. Even though her heart hurts around him, Bill is still her best friend and she doesn't want to cause him pain. But she needs to start putting her heart first now that he's with Fleur. She needs to just <em>try,</em> sometimes, and not worry about disappointing him. That's the hardest part, after all. The way his eyes crease with disappointment, like they're doing now – and how she's so close to going back on her decision to step away from him, because hurting him hurts her, too.</p><p>He sighs again and murmurs, "Okay," as he stares down at her with those perceptive eyes. Whether he knows that she's lying or not, he seems to be willing to buy it. For tonight, at least.</p><p>She ought to know better, though. Perhaps if she hadn't spent the last eight months avoiding him, his concern wouldn't flare into suspicion as it does now, even as he gently extricates himself from her and lets her continue whatever 'work' she's conducting in the late hours of the evening. Then again, perhaps it wouldn't have mattered either way.</p><p>Despite having Fleur in his life, Bill is too accustomed to having Josie by his side to sit idly by while she distances herself from him bit by bit. He loves her, after all, and love is a tenacious creature that is bound to act out in all sorts of ways, when it is provoked.</p><p>Yes, she really ought to know better, but –</p><p>"I'm sure Fleur is happy that I'm making myself scarce, in any case," she mutters as she returns to her desk. And, throwing herself back into her research, she sighs quietly at the thought.</p><hr/><p>During his time in Egypt, Bill hasn't necessarily forgotten his mother's tendency to coddle her children, but the distance might have dulled the immediate memory of just how involved she gets in said children's lives. A large part of him had missed it when he was away, but since returning to England a year ago and retaking his place among the Weasley clan as the eldest brother, he's since then remembered just how nice it had been, being away from his mum's constant fussing. When he steps into the Burrow later that evening, having decided that the flat just feels too empty and oppressing, he is immediately bombarded.</p><p>"Bill! I didn't know you were coming – you should have told me!" Molly Weasley exclaims when he suddenly appears in the kitchen doorway as she's washing up the dinner dishes. She sends him a wide smile and tuts, "Oh, it's so nice having you back in England, where you belong," as she drags him into one of her famous hugs. Said hugs are also something Bill had missed, until he remembered how often they are administered and how suffocating they can sometimes be, when the head matriarch is in one of her worrisome moods. These days, what with the spread of darkness sweeping the country, those moods are becoming more and more constant.</p><p>Ah and, of course, he can't forget the imminent –</p><p>"I wish you'd let me cut your hair, William. It's nearly as long as Ginny's!" she indignantly says for the umpteenth time. It's one of her favorite things to <em>tsk</em> over. That, and –</p><p>"Honestly, that earring…" she sighs, and looks as if she's tempted to snatch it right out of his ear.</p><p>Bill sighs too and murmurs, "Hello, mum," as he leans closer to plant a kiss on her cheek. As expected, it does wonders to stop her fussing, and Molly smiles warmly at him before bustling over to the cabinet to prepare a plate of dinner. After all, her second favorite thing to do besides fretting over his fashion sense is to feed him.</p><p>As she's spooning some mashed potatoes onto his plate, Molly asks, "Is everything alright? You usually tell me in advance when you'll be stopping by."</p><p>She sets the plate down at the large kitchen table and then bustles over to the kettle to make a cup of tea as Bill takes a seat. His mum's cooking is <em>nearly</em> enough to uplift his mood.</p><p>"Yeah, everything's fine," he responds, though there's obviously something in his voice that has his mother glancing over her shoulder at him as she stands by the stove. After he takes a bite of dinner, he asks, "Where're the others?"</p><p>As if the simple, offhanded question is enough to summon the whole of his family, the kitchen suddenly fills with siblings. Well, actually, make that <em>one</em> sibling. Ginny, Ron, Fred, and George are still off at Hogwarts to finish up the remainder of the year, and Percy has moved out and his living in a flat in London now, which leaves –</p><p>"Well look who decided to stop working for once," Charlie drawls from the threshold, and Bill grins.</p><p>The second eldest is only here for a short time before heading back to Romania, and Bill hasn't been able to see him as often as he'd like to. Charlie has always been his closest sibling, mainly because they are only two years apart in age. He's close with the others too, of course, but Charlie has always understood his adventurous spirit a bit better than the rest – and his need to get away from his mother's fussing, for that matter.</p><p>"Charlie," Bill greets, and gets up to drag him into a brotherly hug. "I meant to stop by earlier to say hello, but I've been – "</p><p>"Busy with Fleur's English lessons?" Charlie finishes for him, smirking widely. Bill's face reddens at the obvious implications of his words and their mother tuts a bit as she busies herself with putting the clean dishes away. Her dislike of his fiancée isn't exactly a state secret.</p><p>Charlie snorts at his brother's red face and crosses his arms over his broad chest. It hasn't been that long since Bill had seen Charlie last, but it seems as if he's grown into himself even more. Charlie's always had a bulkier form, shorter than Bill's tall lankiness and possessing a more roughened nature compared to his other brothers. Several years of working on the Romanian Dragon Reserve has only increased said roughness. Not only has Charlie become more muscular since last he saw him, but Bill also notices several new scars littering his arms as well, and reckons that there are more hidden out of sight. Bill's got his own scars from his curse-breaking work, but none of them are quite as impressive as Charlie's.</p><p>Bill elbows Charlie in retribution for his mention of Fleur's English lessons and hisses, "No. Busy with Josie, actually."</p><p>Charlie quirks an eyebrow at his brother. "Oh, you've been busy with Josie, have you? And what does your fiancée think about you getting <em>busy</em> with another woman?"</p><p>Bill's blush immediately deepens. This time, when he elbows Charlie, it's a bit harsher.</p><p>"She's my <em>best mate,</em> Charlie," he says, though the look blazing through Charlie's eyes is doubtful, at best. See, Charlie has always been of the mind that Bill actually <em>fancies</em> Josie, only he's too much of a blockhead to realize it. He's made his thoughts on the matter abundantly clear over the years, much to Bill's consternation.</p><p>Mention of Josie has his mum perking up and spinning on her heel to face him, eyebrows raised in an almost imperious expression. Now, it's common knowledge that Molly Weasley happens to adore Josie. The many summers that she had spent at the Burrow had practically made Josie a surrogate daughter to her. A year ago, Josie would have been considered part of the family, even, but lately…</p><p>"Josephine? I've hardly seen her at all these past few months," Molly announces, somehow managing to look both worried and insulted at the same time. As with all of her children, the use of Josie's full name is enough to make her displeasure apparent. She seems to decide that she's more insulted than worried when she sniffs, "I suppose she thinks she's better than us, these days. Too good to be a proper Weasley."</p><p>Ah – there's another thing that Bill's always been embarrassed about. His entire family, not just Charlie, has always assumed that Bill and Josie would eventually get hitched. He honestly has no idea where they got the notion. Josie's only ever been his best friend. Like he'd said to her just the other night, it <em>is</em> possible for a man and a woman to have a perfectly platonic relationship.</p><p>With a sigh, Bill sits back down and resumes eating, attacking his dinner with a bit more energy than he had before. "You know that's not true, mum. She just has a lot going on with work. Being a curse-breaker isn't an easy job."</p><p>Even as he says it, though, an odd feeling sweeps through him, and he wonders for a moment if perhaps he's being too quick to brush Josie's distance away. After all, she's always made it a priority to come around to the Burrow now and again, even when she's swamped with work.</p><p>He pauses as he reaches for his water, and then shrugs the feeling off and adds, "Plus she's been having a bad go of it lately. Got torn into at work last week, and she just got kicked out of her flat on top of it."</p><p>At this, Molly promptly loses her haughty demeanor and pulls out the chair opposite him to say in a worried voice, "Oh, the poor dear. Bring her round for dinner soon, Bill. I'll whip up her favorite meal."</p><p>Bill sends his mother an exasperated but genuine smile and nods, though inside he wonders if Josie would agree to such an offer. She's been so strange lately. For months now, it's felt as though she's been making herself scarce around him, taking on jobs left and right and purposefully only talking about work-related matters to him – and only when she absolutely has to. Her reassurance just an hour or two before hadn't made him feel all that better about it, despite the sincerity in her eyes, but maybe she really is just stressed. After all, a lot has happened to her lately.</p><p>"Where's she staying, then?" Charlie wonders as he slips into the chair beside his brother. Their mum looks a bit curious to hear the answer to this as well, much to Bill's chagrin.</p><p>He takes a large bite of dinner to buy himself some time, but seeing as he's being stared at expectantly by his two nosy family members, it's impossible to stall forever.</p><p>"Erm. My place. For now," Bill answers quickly, and waits for the inevitable backlash. After all, the Weasley matriarch had thrown a fit when Bill had mentioned that he was thinking of asking Fleur to move in with him. He can still recall with vivid recollection the way Molly had stopped what she had been doing at the time to stare him down with indignant eyes.</p><p>"<em>Two unmarried people living together?" she had exclaimed, disapproval thick in her voice. "Not under my watch, no indeed – it isn't right!"</em></p><p>In the end, he had decided to respect his mum's perspective despite thinking it a bit outdated. It all worked out alright, of course, because Fleur has her own flat in London and she likes the independence. Regardless of all that, though, this is basically the same thing. Josie is an unmarried woman and by all rights, his mum should throw yet another fit at the thought of her living with Bill, an unmarried man.</p><p>Except for some reason, she doesn't. Instead, Molly takes the news quite calmly as she <em>tsks,</em> "Well good, I'm glad to hear it. Lord knows how stressful it must be, not having a place to go. It's about time you make use of that spare bedroom, Bill dear. Now, I ought to go check on Arthur. Poor thing's been overloaded with work lately and he's taken to bringing it home and shutting himself into Percy's old room."</p><p>With that, Molly gets up and bustles from the room, pausing only to call, "Tell that girl to stop avoiding us and to come round for dinner, William!" as she disappears through the kitchen doorway.</p><p>Bill just stares after her in shock, much to Charlie's amusement.</p><p>"You didn't <em>actually</em> think mum would mind Josie taking your spare bedroom, did you?" Charlie drawls, leaning back in his chair with a smirk. When Bill turns his shocked stare his way, he snickers, "I'll bet she wishes you didn't have a spare bedroom at all, that way Josie would have to sleep in your bed with you."</p><p>Bill rolls his eyes and shoves his brother. "You're all crazy, the lot of you. Josie's been my best mate for years now, and that's all she'll <em>ever</em> be," he says firmly.</p><p>Charlie doesn't look convinced. He shrugs, "Yeah yeah, so you've said about a million times now. No matter what <em>you</em> say, though, it <em>isn't</em> possible for a man to have a platonic relationship with a woman. Eventually, one of them will realize how much they want to fu – "</p><p>"Anyway!" Bill loudly interrupts, knowing exactly what his brother had been about to say and not wanting to hear it. Honestly, the amount of times Charlie or the twins have outright asked him if he's staked a claim on Josie yet, in one way or another, is enough to drive a man mad. And <em>not</em> in the way Charlie is hinting at. His whole family is bonkers for thinking that him and Josie would make good partners. Sure, they're best friends and probably always will be, but romance is quite a different thing. Plus –</p><p>"I'm engaged to Fleur," he reminds Charlie, with a resolute expression.</p><p>Charlie waves this off with a shrug and drawls, "Engagements can be broken. I mean look, Bill, I get it, you know? Fleur is kind, sweet…" he trails off and nudges Bill's arm, "absolutely gorgeous, but she doesn't know you like Josie does. If you ask me, I'd say you've spent too much time trying to convince yourself that your relationship with Josie is – "</p><p>"Can we stop talking about this?" Bill impatiently cuts in. He's really not in the mood to have this conversation again. Ever since he brought Fleur to the Burrow at the end of last summer so that she could get to know his family, his siblings have been nonstop with this line of thought, questioning him on what's so good about Fleur and why he's decided not to marry Josie. It's ridiculous. Never once has he ever seen Josie that way, let alone ever think about <em>marrying</em> her. No matter how many times he's told his family that they're just best mates, though, they don't listen. It's infuriating.</p><p>Charlie, at least, isn't as annoying about it when he's alone with Bill and not being backed up by an obstinate Ginny, whose dislike of Fleur and love of Josie is not something she keeps to herself. His brother shrugs at him and mutters, "Fine, then. If you want to be an idiot, I guess there's nothing I can do to stop you."</p><p>Bill rolls his eyes. He had missed his large, noisy family when he was in Egypt, but lately he's remembered just how annoying they can be when it comes to getting involved in his love life.</p><p>"What about you? Any new birds over in Romania?" Bill asks after a moment of blessed silence. It's been quite a few months since Charlie had last come home. His part to play in the Order of the Phoenix is on foreign soil, recruiting witches and wizards to help with the war efforts, so he doesn't have need to be here in person as often as the others. Sometimes Bill is a bit jealous of that. Since his return to England and officially joining the Order, Bill has risked his life several times over. Even simple things like doing the shopping seems more dangerous, these days. He's sure that Charlie's stressed out over the war as well, especially being so far from his family, but the imminent sense of danger isn't quite the same.</p><p>Charlie shrugs again and, leaning back in his chair, responds, "Nah. You know me. I'm not the sort to settle down."</p><p>Bill snorts at this and murmurs, "Mark my words, Charlie - one day you're gonna find a girl and she'll sweep you off your feet."</p><p>Charlie laughs. "Well she'd have to come to the reserve for <em>that</em> to happen, and I've told you already that my only love is for – "</p><p>"Norberta, yeah, I know," Bill finishes with an amused smile.</p><p>Charlie chuckles and murmurs, "Believe me, Bill, finding a girl who loves dragons <em>and</em> Quidditch is not as easy as it seems."</p><p>Bill rolls his eyes. "I think you're just being too specific about what you want."</p><p>Charlie leans forward. Just as Bill had expected, bringing up the topic of dragons is enough to distract his brother from spewing any more of his frustrating allegations towards his and Josie's relationship. Small blessings.</p><p>"We just got in a Vipertooth a few months back. She was in a bad state. Hunted for sport over in Peru," Charlie says. "Her wings are completely useless now. Can't fly at all. She's been giving us all kinds of trouble – acting out, making our lives hell…nearly bit Stephen's arm clean off last week."</p><p>Bill hums and listens to his brother talk about the Peruvian Vipertooth. Inside though, he finds himself wondering if Josie had made it back to the flat yet, or if she's still shut up in her office at Gringotts, working on whatever case she had claimed to be busy with.</p><p>If Charlie notices his distraction, he doesn't say. Neither does he pester him any more with the notion that Bill has somehow been in love with Josie for years, only it had somehow, miraculously, escaped him. It's ridiculous, really. He thinks he would know if he was in love with his best friend. The whole idea is preposterous.</p><p>"I can't even imagine it, you know?" Charlie is saying. "Spending your whole life flying and then suddenly having that taken from you…"</p><p>It's completely preposterous. He doesn't even know why he's still thinking about it. After all, Josie certainly doesn't see him that way. He's sure he would have noticed if she was in love with him, right?</p><p>"I asked her to be my Best Man," Bill suddenly blurts out, interrupting Charlie mid-sentence.</p><p>Charlie pauses, stares at Bill, and sighs, "What'd she say?"</p><p>Bill straightens his shoulders and responds, "She said yes, of course."</p><p>But there's something about the way Charlie looks at him in that moment that makes Bill feel strangely nearsighted, as if Charlie can see the bigger picture and he can only see a small piece of it. He shifts in his chair, and tells himself to stop letting his family's nosiness get to him.</p><p>Charlie nods slowly, still staring at Bill with those annoyingly perceptive eyes, and just says, "Of course she did. She'd do anything you asked without question."</p><p>Bill hesitates, wondering why his brother's words are so knowing. Then he chuckles and says, "Yeah, well. We're best mates."</p><p>Charlie just hums and doesn't respond, and for some reason, his silence is more telling than any words he could have procured. Bill ignores it, of course, as always, because – honestly, it's just so preposterous.</p><p>But love is blind and silent, and it doesn't always work in obvious ways. Sometimes, it hits you out of the blue, so quickly that it takes only seconds to grow. Sometimes, it takes a more indirect path, skirting around the edges of your periphery without your knowing, until you wake up one morning and realize the truth that's been staring you in the eyes for so long. The truth that you had been ignoring, because you were too scared to accept it, or because it seemed too great and significant to take on. And you realize that love has always existed in the creases between you, filling up the gaps of your person. It's only when you begin to lose it that you see it for what it is, and when you look back on all the moments in which it had quietly grown, skirting the edge of your heart for years without making itself apparent, you wonder how you hadn't seen it before.</p><p>They say that love comes in different forms and at different times. Josie has felt the sting of it for years now, but Bill?</p><p>His heart is only just beginning to decipher the whispers that have always been there, quietly growing just out of sight.</p><hr/><p>"I don't know, Josie…two weeks is pushing it," Artie says the next day when Josie pops into his office after lunch to propose a trip to the latest Incan temple he had assigned her to. He looks up from the file she had organized and adds, "You usually get these expeditions finished up within a week."</p><p>Right. She doesn't want to brag or anything, but she's a top-notch curse-breaker in this division, no matter what Wright says. Her dedication to studying ancient South American civilizations is what had propelled her through the ranks of her division so quickly. She's damned good at her job, which is why Artie hasn't forced her to take that promotion that's been dangling over her head for ages now. He knows how much she loves being able to head to South America and get directly involved in the curse-breaking side of the job. Being promoted would mean higher pay, of course, but it would also mean that she'd be doing paperwork all day and wouldn't have the chance to travel as often as she likes.</p><p>Anyway, though –</p><p>"This one may require a bit more finesse," she explains. "It's a Pantheonic temple honoring Kon, so there will undoubtedly be more complicated curses involved."</p><p>It's not entirely a lie, anyway. This <em>is</em> a temple to honor one of the Incan gods, which means that it <em>will</em> be more complicated. In her line of work, these types of temples are often more protected than other sites, because they are tied to a member of the pantheon of gods. The Maya and Aztec have them too. All of their gods are referred to by different names, but as with many ancient religions and cultures, there are similarities that connect them all together.</p><p>Regardless of the more complicated nature of temples related to the Pantheon, though, this isn't the reason that Josie is hoping for an extended trip. She means to track down Salvador and Mauricio Moreno, the Bolivian brothers who were a part of the original expedition. If she has time after that, perhaps she'll be able to continue her search into Equador to find Fiorella Perez. She doesn't tell Artie any of this, of course. The less he knows about her being cursed, the better. She doesn't want to run the risk of being taken off of future expeditions because he's worried about her health or something.</p><p>Artie still looks a bit hesitant, though. He taps his fingers against his desk and hedges, "It's just that things are getting more dangerous these days. Even Wright is limiting the amount of cases he's taking on, what with You-Know-Who running amuck…"</p><p>Josie frowns. "I just – I need to get out of here for a while, Artie, and someone has to handle this temple, so it might as well be me."</p><p>He eyes her carefully and asks, "Why do you need to get out of here? You alright?"</p><p>She bites back a frustrated tirade of how she <em>isn't</em> alright and how she <em>won't</em> be alright unless she gets those Incan coins – and just sighs impatiently. "I'm fine, Artie. Just feeling the itch to get out of the office."</p><p>Well <em>that's</em> true enough. In fact, she's never wanted an assignment that will take her out of the country more than she does right now. Bill's 'utterly romantic' proposal to Fleur is the only thing people can talk about, these days. She figures it's their way of focusing on the good rather than the bad. After all, there is a war coming, and the entire country can feel it. It's maddening having to listen to her coworkers gush about how lucky Fleur is, and how her and Bill make such a great pair, and how it's so inspiring to see blossoming love in the midst of these dark times. It makes Josie sick to her stomach.</p><p>Her explanation is good enough for Artie, though, who is accustomed to hearing her say those words every couple of months, at least. She loves traveling, and Artie knows it.</p><p>"Fine, fine. I'll see what I can do," he grumbles, and waves her off. By the end of the day, though, she receives word that Artie had managed to convince his higher-up to allow the trip, and she heads back to the flat earlier than usual in a fine mood. She wishes she could say that her good mood lasts, but…well.</p><p>"Peru? For how long?" Bill demands when she breezily informs him of her upcoming trip. The whole thing is a bit last minute – she's due to leave the next morning, bright and early. Perhaps that's why he seems so disgruntled to hear the news.</p><p>Josie raises an eyebrow at him as she digs around his refrigerator for something to drink.</p><p>"Two weeks maximum," she responds, shrugging it off. "Not that long."</p><p>Bill eyes her with a frown. "Two weeks is pretty long," he mutters, and crosses his arms.</p><p>Josie rolls her eyes at him. "Please. You were gone for <em>two years</em> in Egypt. Two weeks is nothing. I don't know why you're so upset about this. It's a <em>work</em> trip."</p><p>He frowns deeper and argues, "I was <em>stationed</em> in Egypt for two years and it wasn't in the middle of a <em>war."</em></p><p>Her immediate response to this is a simple, "There's not a war happening in South America, Bill. We both know it's safer being out of the country."</p><p>His patience seems to be wearing thin when he fires back, "It's not the war that I'm concerned about, Josie, it's the fact that you seem to be finding every excuse imaginable to get away from me and I don't understand it!"</p><p>She pauses at this, one hand curled around the neck of the beer bottle she had just opened. She can feel his eyes searing into her back, challenging her to deny his accusation. She grits her teeth, wrangles down the ever-present pain that she always feels around him, and calmly turns. His expression is a mix of hurt and anger, which, in turn, makes <em>her</em> hurt and angry too. Honestly! He doesn't have the right to worry about her. He shouldn't try to stop her from distancing herself from him! He's engaged for Merlin's sake. If anything, he should be more concerned about his fiancée.</p><p>Months – years, even – of suppressed emotion comes hurtling through her as she locks eyes with him. It's just so exhausting, loving Bill. Some days, he's too busy with work and his relationship with Fleur to even notice her; others, he finally remembers that she's still there. It's the idea of being an afterthought that really does her in. It makes her wonder if she's <em>always</em> been an afterthought to him.</p><p>"I don't know what you want from me," she says in a clipped tone. She's tired of this back and forth. She feels like she's been in limbo for years, trapped on the same path but never able to find the end of it. That's what it's like, really, being in love with someone who doesn't love you back. It's a never-ending push and pull in the center of an ocean, constantly battered by tall waves but never able to sink.</p><p>Bill sends her an incredulous expression. "Isn't it obvious? I want you to tell me why you've been so distant lately." Then he sighs and gives her that look – the one that always makes her heart shake into submission – and softly adds, "I want you to stop pulling away from me."</p><p>God, he makes everything so hard.</p><p>"This is just what happens, Bill," she snaps, forcing away the desire to soothe his worries. She's tired of pretending as if this isn't painful for her. Tired of putting on a brave face and acting as if everything is alright. With an impatient sigh, she says, "You're getting married. It only makes sense that we grow apart. Some things change."</p><p>True enough, but Bill doesn't seem very happy about it. He frowns deeply but doesn't argue any more. Whether this is because he can see the truth in her words or simply because he's tired too, she doesn't know, but she's not about to complain.</p><p>Things <em>do</em> change, after all, and as much as she wishes they wouldn't, she knows that there's nothing she can do to stop it.</p>
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<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Never Lie to a Weasley</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  <strong>Chapter Four | Never Lie to a Weasley</strong>
</p><p>Josie loves South America. The people, the culture. The language is like music to her hears. The landscape is so different from the busy metropolis of London that it's like stepping into an entirely new world. These days, it feels like coming home. Her heart is in these temples; her love is trapped in the tall spires of the Andes as they reach for the clouds. She can't even count how many times she's traveled across this continent. She's been focusing on the Inca, Maya, and Aztec civilizations since she started as a curse-breaker after graduation, and she's pretty good at what she does. That's why it's so laughably ironic that she got cursed.</p><p>There's always a danger of getting cursed on the job, but she's usually careful when venturing into one of the temples of these ancient cultures. The sort of magic that perforates these by-gone civilizations is powerful stuff, and it's different from what many other curse-breakers see in different parts of the world. There's a wilderness to it – an unpredictability that requires extreme caution. You never know what new curse you may stumble upon or what effects it may have on the various members of your party. She's heard plenty of horror stories of whole expeditions getting cursed when they don't do their research properly. That's the trick, she's found. Doing your research before you step into the magical boundaries that often surround the temples.</p><p>Her plan is set: she leaves in two days for Peru. She's been in contact with Ricardo, her curse-breaker friend who often accompanies her on her expeditions whenever he has the time for it. He's the only person that Josie has talked to about her curse, mainly because as a Peruvian himself, she'd been hoping that he would have something to say about it. Unfortunately, Ricardo is convinced that she's just imagining her curse. <em>'Cursed gold? That's just a myth, querida. A bedtime story told to children,' </em>he had said when she first brought it up in one of their , despite his perspective, he's still willing to help her. He always is.</p><p>Since this is a work trip, Josie will still need to deal with the Incan temple before she can focus on anything else. Gringotts is investing in this expedition and she has to make sure that there's something to show for it. Ricardo will be meeting up with her beforehand, but once their work is completed, they'll be heading off to find the Bolivian brothers before her return trip to England. She's hoping that by the time she arrives in South America, Ricardo will have more leads regarding where Salvador and Mauricio are. As it is, she's been hard pressed to track them down all the way from England, so she's had to rely on Ricardo more than she would have liked.</p><p>With her trip coming up, Josie spends her Sunday in her office at Gringotts, planning out her travels and putting a schedule together. This won't be a standard expedition and she'll need to make sure she's got plenty of time to find Salvador and Mauricio. At least half of her trip will be spent doing actual curse-breaking work, so she needs to plan accordingly. After a long day spent ironing out all the details, she heads back to Bill's flat, daydreaming about making a proper cup of tea. That's about the time when she remembers why it was such a bad idea to let him convince her to move in with him.</p><p>"Bill, stop it!" Fleur's lilting French accent laughs the moment Josie steps into the flat.</p><p>Right. Now she remembers. As if she wants to walk in on Bill and Fleur cuddling together on his couch.</p><p>Her stomach roils with disgust. Her heart tightens with pain. She clears her throat awkwardly, and Bill immediately tears his hands away from Fleur's midsection, where he had been tickling her. Well, at least they aren't snogging. Though from Bill's rumpled shirt and Fleur's mussed up hair, Josie suspects that they <em>were</em>.</p><p>"Josie!" Bill exclaims. His face floods with embarrassment. "Er – you're back," he finishes, very awkwardly.</p><p>Josie stares at him for a long moment, then rolls her eyes and sarcastically drawls, "Here I am. I hope I'm not…interrupting something." She stuffs her hands into her leather jacket and raises an eyebrow at them.</p><p>The sarcasm in her voice only makes him blush that much more, even as Fleur laughs again from the couch, appearing quite amused at her fiancé's embarrassment.</p><p>"Well. I've got some packing to do," Josie declares, wanting to extricate herself from this frankly awkward situation as soon as possible. As she hastens towards the spare bedroom, she calls back, "You can just go back to whatever it was you were doing."</p><p>Right – snogging and tickling. Yeah, she doesn't want to be around to witness <em>that</em>. Merlin, she needs to find a new place to live. This is an absolute nightmare.</p><p>Once she closes herself into her room and shuts the door behind her, Josie dumps her rucksack onto her bed and immediately starts going through her dresser. She likes to make sure that everything is accounted for early on, despite the fact that she still has a few days before she leaves. This said, she doesn't have that much to pack. Josie isn't all that interested in how she looks. She's accustomed to toughing it out, especially while she's traveling. A few pairs of trousers and tanks are enough to get her through a few weeks. She doesn't usually wear make-up and doesn't give two shits about whether her hair is perfect, so that helps too. She throws a couple of shorts into her bag and digs around for some clean shirts. As a muggleborn, she's got quite a collection of band t-shirts and such things, which she loves wearing in the wizarding world because it always confuses people.</p><p>By the time she's finished stuffing things into her rucksack, she decides to make that cup of tea before tackling her pre-expedition paperwork. She bolsters herself before braving the kitchen, fully expecting to find Fleur and Bill having yet another moment, but when she steps out of her room, the French woman seems to have left. Josie raises her eyebrow and glances over at Bill, who is trying to decide what to make for dinner. He looks up at her as she heads over to the kettle, only to find that it's already hot. Bill must have gotten it ready for her. Though the thought that he knows her so well warms her, it also fills her with that ever-present sense of wistfulness, and she has to collect herself once more as she heads over to get a mug from the cabinet.</p><p>"Where's Fleur?" Josie wonders as she searches around for the tea. She sees a tin on the top shelf and mutters a curse as she tries to reach for it. After a few attempts, her fingers close around it and she sets it onto the counter.</p><p>With a shrug, Bill responds, "She had some errands to run." Then, after a tense moment, he clears his throat and starts to say, "Josie – " right when Josie says, "Bill – "</p><p>They both fall silent and stare at each other, until Josie gestures at him to speak. Merlin, she's never felt this awkward around him before. She hastily prepares a teabag while she waits for him to speak.</p><p>He opens his mouth, but seems to change his mind about what he's about to say, because he just settles with, "…What do you want for dinner?"</p><p>She bustles over to fill her mug with hot water and shrugs, "Don't bother, I'm not really hungry. I've got a ton of work to do tonight."</p><p>Then, just as quickly as she'd come, Josie hightails it back to her room, and it's only when the door shuts that she's able to breathe. Bill just purses his lips and sighs, wondering yet again how their friendship had deteriorated to such an extent.</p><p>Still, he thankfully keeps himself busy while Josie works. She hadn't been lying about that. She's got a ton of paperwork to prepare before her expedition. She could just do it at the office tomorrow, but she reckons that this gives her a real excuse to not be around Bill, which is always good. Being near him is…difficult.</p><p>Thankfully, he seems to be fine with giving her the space that she apparently desires, because he doesn't bother her for several hours. It's after nightfall by the time he knocks on her door and pokes his head in to check on her. He takes one look at the paperwork strewn over her bed and whistles lowly.</p><p>"Couldn't you do all of this on Monday? It's the weekend," he says, as if he thinks she needs to be reminded of what day it is. He steps into her room and closes the door with the heel of his dragon-hide boots. She wonders if he had stepped out of the flat without her realizing it, but doesn't ask.</p><p>"Here," he says, putting down a fresh cup of tea. "Thought you could use a refill. It's your favorite."</p><p>So it seems. She's always been partial to peppermint. Of course he remembered.</p><p>"…Thanks," she responds idly, not lifting her eyes from the file she's putting together.</p><p>Bill falls silent as he looks around the room. It's a bit messier than usual. Josie's always been a bit of a whirlwind, coming and going and forgetting to tidy things up. Despite her being here for only a short time, the place is a bit of a wreck. He doesn't particularly mind, though. He's not exactly the neatest person either, and besides, most of the mess seems to be work-related.</p><p>Papers litter every spare surface, from the nightstand to the small table on the other end of the room. A map of South America has been charmed to the wall, marked with more red lines and dots. He finds himself gravitating towards it without thought, suddenly filled with curiosity. He's never really gotten too involved in the South America division, preferring to focus all of his time with the Egypt cases, so he doesn't really know much about what she does besides the standard curse-breaking endeavors. He feels abruptly disappointed with himself for not asking her more about her line of work, but in all fairness, he's been extremely busy since returning to England. Not only does his missions for the Order take up much of his spare time, but he also has his work at Gringotts to do and his relationship with Fleur to focus on.</p><p>"So where in Peru are you going?" he wonders, curiously following the red lines across the various countries. Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico…they seem to be following a specific path.</p><p>Josie clears her throat behind him and mumbles, "Here and there, really…the temple is located east of Tarapoto," then falls silent, as if this explanation should be enough.</p><p>It isn't. Bill raises an eyebrow and turns to study her. When she doesn't look up from the page she's scanning, he sighs, "Josie, I'm…sorry about our argument. I said some things that I regret."</p><p>Finally, she glances up at him and sends him a smile that looks a bit strained. There's something in her eyes that makes him pause. Some hint of hurt that confuses him. Had he put it there? He can't imagine how.</p><p>"…It's fine, Bill. It's in the past," she tells him.</p><p>Still, though, despite her calm words, her eyes are still strangely disclosed and he doesn't like it. He steps towards the bed and shuffles some of the papers out of the way, sitting down beside her.</p><p>"You sure?" he murmurs, catching her eye. Her soft brown gaze clears slightly, but only just.</p><p>Josie laughs and nudges his shoulder with hers. "Of course I'm sure. Stop giving me that look."</p><p>Damn him for making it so hard to hold a grudge. Every time she tries, he only has to give her those appealing eyes and she caves, wondering why she was ever upset at him in the first place.</p><p>"So what sort of Incan temple are you going to?" Bill asks after a moment, and lays back on the bed, apparently here to stay.</p><p>Josie glances at him and collapses onto the bed as well, lying side by side next to him. "Oh, well, it was built to honor one of the Incan gods. Kon, the rain god. He's one of the more benevolent gods, so I doubt we'll find too many bodies in there. You never know, though. Human sacrifices and all."</p><p>Bill raises an eyebrow at him and lifts himself up onto his elbow to look down at her. "Do you usually deal with Inferi?"</p><p>She snorts. "Nah. The Inca used to mummify the bodies of their ancestors and use all sorts of spells to keep them partially alive even after death, but that sort of magic is nothing like the magic used to create Inferi."</p><p>Bill smiles and studies the line of her nose and the passionate look in her eyes, and murmurs, "You know a lot about this."</p><p>When Josie smiles at him, he feels his breath catch for some reason.</p><p>"It's fascinating to me," she tells him.</p><p>He smiles at her and just responds, "It feels strange that we've never really spoken about it before."</p><p>For other reasons unknown to him, her own smile fades slightly at this. They stare at each other for a long moment, in which Josie seems to realize how close they are. When she sits up and clears her throat, he feels a bolt of disappointment thunder through his chest.</p><p>"Yeah…it's strange…" she mumbles, and then throws him an offhanded smile. "Thanks for the tea, Bill, but I really do need to get some work done. I'm due to leave in two days, so I have to prepare."</p><p>He pauses, inwardly recoiling from her abrupt brush-off, before gruffly responding, "Right. I'll just…let you get back to work then."</p><p>She doesn't stop him from getting up and heading to the door. It's only when he's halfway through it that she turns to look at him and adds, "Oh – also, I've found a new flat, so I'll be out of your hair by tomorrow. I want to get everything set up before the expedition." She smiles at him and turns back to the page she's reading, not noticing the look on Bill's face as he hears this.</p><p>It's disappointed, and hurt, and wistful. He doesn't really know why he feels all of these things. After all, it's just Josie, his best friend, the girl he thinks of as a sister. By all rights, he should be happy that she's getting back on her feet. Thrilled, even, that he'll have his flat to himself again, and that he'll be able to spend more time with Fleur without worrying about Josie walking in on them.</p><p>It's just…he doesn't want her to leave. He likes having her so close to him. It feels right.</p><p>He doesn't know why, yet, but he will, and when he finally opens his eyes to the bigger picture and realizes what he's been ignoring for half of his life, well…</p><p>He certainly won't be confused as to why his heart shudders just so in his chest as he quietly shuts Josie's door.</p><hr/><p>"Are you sure you want to leave? We had a pretty good set up here," Bill had said the next morning as he'd watched Josie pack up her things. He'd looked like he wanted to say more, but Fleur had come round for breakfast and seemed to be having trouble remembering how to fry an egg without burning it to a crisp, so he'd had to leave to help out. Josie hadn't stopped him, and had merely muttered to herself about how hard it is to cook breakfast. Then again, she is the daughter of a restaurateur, so maybe she's biased.</p><p>Then again, maybe not. She had stepped out of the spare room with her belongings just in time to see Fleur happily plating Bill's breakfast, which had consisted of a blackened egg and a thoroughly burnt piece of toast. As expected, Bill was too much of a gentleman to complain, though he'd sent Josie a jokingly frightened look over his shoulder the moment Fleur's back was turned.</p><p>Honestly. Why is he even marrying her if she can't make toast? It's a question that's been spinning through her head all morning as she'd lugged her suitcase across Diagon Alley to her new 'flat'. Ah – now is probably a good time to mention that she <em>doesn't</em> actually have a place lined up, like she'd told Bill. These days, she feels like she lies to him more often than she ever used to, and though it leaves a bitter taste in her mouth, she can't help but feel like it's necessary. She can't stay with him when Fleur comes around so often. It makes the jealousy in her heart spiral out of control, so much so that it's difficult to breathe.</p><p>She's hoping that her womanly charm is in better condition today, because she's going to need it if she wants to secure a place to stay. Being homeless isn't really her cup of tea. When she lugs Marcia and her suitcase to The Leaky Cauldron, though, she isn't sure said charm is going to cut it.</p><p>"Please, Tom. I'll even take a broom closet at this point, as long as it has a bed," she appeals when she arrives at the inn to bother its proprietor yet again. The moment he'd seen her step inside with her belongings, he'd spun around quickly and tried to look busy. Unfortunately though, people don't usually frequent the pub so early in the day and he hadn't exactly had much to occupy himself with.</p><p>Josie leans across the counter and adds, "You know what? I'd even take it <em>without</em> the bed – I'm used to roughing it out. I'd be <em>fine</em> with that."</p><p>Tom gives her a deadpan stare and opens his mouth to respond to her, but before he can, she presses, "I've got a good job. I'm willing to pay double what the other tenants pay – and it's only for as long as I can find an actual flat. Please, Tom."</p><p>He sounds very exasperated when he gruffly mutters, "I don't have a room, Devonport. I've already told you – "</p><p>"I know that, but I also know you've got some broom closets you could clear out," she interrupts, trying to make her womanly charm work. Damn it, she doesn't know why it seems so out of order these days. She used to be able to convince a man to do <em>anything</em> with just one daring smile.</p><p>Tom sighs in annoyance and throws down the rag he's using to wipe down the countertops. "I thought you were staying with Weasley. What'd he do, throw you out or somethin'?"</p><p>Josie collapses into the empty bar stool she's hovering over and mumbles, "…No. I just can't stand being around him and his new fiancée." Her voice lowers into so much disparagement that Tom's eyebrows jerk up in skepticism.</p><p>Great. She probably sounds just as jealous as she feels. She ought to rein that in a bit if she wants to convince him.</p><p>"Look, it wouldn't be for very long. Plus I'll be shipping off to Peru tomorrow morning, so I just need a place to store my things until I can find a flat," she says, trying a new approach. "And I wasn't lying about paying you double. You'd make a fortune off of me, I swear."</p><p>Mention of money does seem to make his eyes flash with interest. He leans against his side of the counter and hedges, "There is a broom closet on the fourth floor that I <em>could</em> turn into a room…if you pay me upfront for the next three months."</p><p>Josie's mouth drops open. "Three months? <em>Why?"</em></p><p>Tom raises a shrewd eyebrow and shrugs, "Let's call it an insurance policy."</p><p>She scowls at him and mutters, "I'd rather call it 'greed'." But then, when she sees the way he looks like he's about to retract the offer, she hurriedly says, "Fine! When can I move in?"</p><p>He just reaches into his pocket to grab his wand and gruffly responds, "Right now…after payment, of course."</p><p>She huffs at him. "I'll need to go to Gringotts to take out some money. Just get the room ready and I'll pay you later today." She nearly adds, 'you greedy arsehole', but decides against it at the last minute, not wanting to push her already dismal luck.</p><p>That's how she ends up here, in this cramped broom closet on the fourth floor of The Leaky Cauldron, surrounded by her things and wondering how her life had gotten so incredibly shitty.</p><p>"That should do it," Tom mutters after he clears out the cleaning supplies and uses his magic to set up a bed and a dresser in the corner. That's literally all there is. Just one bed and one dresser, and enough dust and grime to last a lifetime.</p><p>Well. Beggars can't be choosers, as they say. In any case, this definitely beats living in Bill's spare room and having to listen to Fleur's annoying voice all the time.</p><p>She tries to remain optimistic as she puts her clothes into the dresser and does some cleaning charms to remove the cobwebs. For a while, she's able to distract herself from the press of jealousy that always seems to inhibit her heart these days, but once everything is put away and cleaned as best as she can manage, those dark thoughts once more cloud her mind.</p><p>"<em>Bill!"</em> Fleur's laugh floats through her mind.</p><p>She cringes to herself and collapses onto the bed. The moment her back hits the hard mattress, she cringes even more. To be honest, she might end up missing Bill's spare bed after a few nights of sleeping on this, but that's all she'll miss.</p><p>"How did this even happen?" she bemoans, shaking the thought from her head as she casts a disparaging glance around the tiny broom-closet-turned-room. She never thought she'd be in this sort of situation. Kicked out of her flat, still in love with Bill even though she should've gotten over him by now, living in a fucking broom closet – and only after way more begging than she'll ever admit to. Honestly, she's starting to wonder if she'll ever break this curse, or if her constant bad luck is here to stay. It certainly doesn't seem to be letting up at all.</p><p>She's only further reminded of that when she feels a strange wetness on her upper lip, and when she touches her nose, she realizes that it's bleeding.</p><p>"Oh fuck everything," Josie grumbles. The aches and pains are one thing, but the bloody noses have been happening more and more frequently as of late and they're frankly annoying because they're always followed up with a –</p><p>"Fucking headache," she moans, rolling back into a sitting position and throwing herself across the tiny room to root around her bag. Thankfully, the Moondew essence that Catalina had given her is still right where she'd left it.</p><p>Josie reaches for a tissue to curb the bloody nose as she makes her way back to the bed, clutching the Moondew tightly. Catalina hadn't been lying about its potency. When she puts several drops of it on her tongue, the effects are immediate. After only a few seconds, her headache begins to lessen until it's gone completely, and the blood stops flowing.</p><p>At least the Moondew works. It seems to be the only thing that does.</p><p>Honestly, if she doesn't find a way to break this curse, she's afraid that bloody noses and headaches might be the least of her concerns. The thought makes her close her eyes with a dark frown. A moment later, Josie is sitting back up and shedding the Queen t-shirt she had thrown on that morning. She pauses for a moment to collect her strength before glancing down to where her heart beats. The moment she sees the blackened veins spreading just beneath the skin, a sick feeling trembles through her. Ricardo might think she's just being dramatic about this curse, but she knows she's not. For months now, she's watched the slow spread of it. At first it had just been a slight discoloration that she hadn't even noticed, but after a while, she's started to realize that this isn't just another random bruise. The veins surrounding her heart can be clearly seen through her skin; blackened lines festering with sickness.</p><p>Catalina's voice whispers into Josie's mind as she lays back down on the hard bed and stares sightlessly at the ceiling, wrinkling Roger's face as she clenches her fingers around her t-shirt.</p><p>"<em>I have witnessed the slow decay that lays waste to their bodies and drives them to madness…"</em></p><p>A shiver catches through her body, born of fear and misery.</p><p>"Beware who enter here…for those who live by way of greed will perish…" she whispers to herself.</p><p>She's got to get the rest of those coins. As soon as possible.</p><hr/><p>It's not going to be easy, though. Nothing ever is, for her. When she heads into work an hour or so later, her bad luck seems to be acting out in all sorts of vengeful ways. She walks right into a goblin who is transporting a tray of galleons to be weighed and distributed, and ends up knocking the tray right onto the ground, spilling the coins all over the marbled floor of the lobby. After a thoroughly frightening scolding from the goblin, who had very nearly bit her head off for her clumsiness, Josie had quickly made her way to the curse-breaker department, praying that the rest of her day won't follow the same path as her morning. She should really know better than to be that hopeful, though.</p><p>The first sign of her bad luck wreaking havoc on her life is when she realizes that she had forgotten several important papers back at The Leaky Cauldron, and has to explain it to Artie, who isn't very pleased to hear about it.</p><p>"We need to file that paperwork before you leave, Devons, or else you're not going to Peru – you'd best go get them during your lunch break," he tells her.</p><p>Right, so she wastes her entire lunch break trying to find the papers that had somehow gotten lost in her <em>tiny</em> new room. By the time she locates them, she only has ten minutes left of her break and she ends up returning to the office without lunch, which really sucks because she hadn't eaten breakfast and she's starving.</p><p>Thankfully, the meeting she has that afternoon goes according to plan, but that's about the only good thing that happens today. She goes over her trip, does a thorough analysis of what she's expecting, and gets the final go-ahead for her expedition from Artie. This naturally means more paperwork, which ends up taking her longer than planned because she ends up accidentally breaking her quill halfway through. While this normally wouldn't be a problem, it just so happens to be the only quill she's got left, which means that she has to take a detour around the office to borrow one from her coworkers. The moment she begins to dive back into her work, though, she runs out of ink, and she has to do the exact same thing all over again. It ends up taking her twenty minutes before she can actually resume her work, and by then, she's muttering curses beneath her breath.</p><p>Then, as she's signing her name to several papers, another headache begins to jolt through her head. She reaches up to take her hair down from its ponytail, only for her hair tie to snap.</p><p>She gets stuck in the lift on her way to the Secretarial Department to file the paperwork, runs into Fleur on her way back, and gets caught in a conversation that she would absolutely rather not have.</p><p>"<em>I wanted to ask, Jozephine, if Billy is allergic to dairy, because 'ee never seems to eat breakfast."</em></p><p>After making something up about Bill just not eating breakfast that much (that's a lie, of course – Bill loves breakfast, especially his mum's), Josie makes a quick escape. She's not evil. She won't tell Fleur that she's just shite at cooking. Bill would probably be furious if she did, even though he probably agrees.</p><p>Anyway, when she returns to her office, she somehow manages to break her door. She's got no idea how it happens but as it swings closed, one of the hinges snaps and the whole thing ends up tilting sideways. She ends up having to call Artie in to help her fix it, because for some reason, <em>'Reparo'</em> isn't working. Her wand is acting up again, it seems.</p><p>She really should have gone to Ollivander to ask him about the fracture that's running along the length of her wand, but she's just had no time to lately. Besides, she's expecting that it will be pretty expensive to repair, if it even <em>can</em> be repaired, and she can't really afford a brand new wand at the moment. Considering that she has just cleared out the remainder of her savings to pay Tom three months of rent, she really doesn't have the funds to purchase a new one at the moment. Bringing a faulty wand on an expedition into a dangerous Incan temple is probably not a good idea, but Josie doesn't exactly have many options at the moment.</p><p>By three o'clock, she's beginning to lose her shit. After staring forlornly at her wand for a good ten minutes straight and ignoring the paperwork that she still has to file before she leaves for Peru, she decides that maybe she ought to get a cup of tea. That usually makes her feel loads better, and she needs to distract herself from her sudden concern over her very empty savings account.</p><p>Of course, with the way things are going, she really shouldn't be surprised when getting a simple cup of tea turns into getting screamed at yet again by one furious Robert Wright, who seems to have decided that he absolutely can't stand her. In her defense, though, it's really his fault for storming into the break room right when she's walking through the threshold with a steaming cup of tea in hand. Apparently, she has a newfound talent of spilling burning liquid on people, because that's exactly what ends up happening when Wright knocks into her shoulder and she ends up dumping the contents of her teacup right down the front of his pristinely ironed dress shirt.</p><p>Josie freezes, loosely holding the tilted cup that is now nearly empty, and lifts wide eyes to the quickly reddening face that the head of the Egyptian division is now sporting.</p><p>"…Devonport," Wright grits out, staring at her as if he thinks she's literally dirt beneath his shoes. A very brief silence falls, before…</p><p>"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?" he yells.</p><p>She cringes.</p><p>"I'M SO FUCKING TIRED OF YOUR SHIT! DO YOU MAKE A FUCKING HABIT OF SPILLING THINGS EVERYWHERE YOU GO OR ARE YOU JUST A FUCKING IDIOT!"</p><p>If anyone else swore like that to an employee, they'd probably get reported. Thing is, Robert Wright is practically a legend around here and no one would dare demote him. He might be an arsehole, but he's an incredible curse-breaker. Josie holds her breath and clenches down on her empty teacup so tightly that she's afraid she might break it.</p><p>"I CAN'T EVEN FUCKING LOOK AT YOU. HOW DID YOU EVEN GET THIS JOB, ANYWAY?!" he screams, and then before she can attempt to explain herself, he turns on his heel and storms back out of the break room, his shirt now a questionable shade of tea-brown.</p><p>Josie stares at his back and jumps as he slams the door shut. Even after he disappears, though, she still holds her breath, as if she's expecting that he'll come back around to yell at her some more. In fact, when the door quietly opens after several minutes of puckered silence, Josie thinks for a split second that this is exactly what's happening – until she sees Bill's long head of red hair as he slips into the room, no doubt having heard Wright's yelling and had deduced what was going on. The sight of him has her finally releasing her breath. And her tears, apparently, which she hadn't even known she was holding back until that moment.</p><p>"Oh, Josie," Bill murmurs when he sees them. Something in his chest lurches, and he immediately pulls her into his arms. "Hey, it's okay, yeah?"</p><p>He rubs her back as she buries her face against his shoulder and wraps her arms around him. Fuck it – she knows she shouldn't fall into him like this every damn time, but she just can't help herself around him. When he holds her like this, everything just feels so much better.</p><p>"I keep crying these days," Josie breathlessly admits, reaching up to drag the back of her hand over her cheek.</p><p>Bill snorts and mutters, "Wright's a complete arse. I reckon you've got a right to cry."</p><p>At this, Josie pulls back to jokingly hiccup, "I thought you worshiped that man!"</p><p>He makes a face and returns, "I wouldn't go that far, Jos. Even though he's a legendary curse-breaker, he's still a twat."</p><p>His words have the right effect, it seems, because Josie lets out a breathless, hiccupping laugh and pulls away to pat her cheeks. As she wipes her tears away, she mutters, "God. I'm having such an awful day. You wouldn't believe my bad luck."</p><p>Bill raises his hand to drag his thumb across her cheek. "Does that mean I'll have to carry you up to my flat again after one too many shots of firewhiskey?"</p><p>She cringes a bit at the memory, cheeks flushing just so. "…Did I ever apologize for that?" she wonders with another grimace.</p><p>Bill laughs and steps away from her, patting her shoulder as he responds, "You don't have to apologize, Josie. We all have our bad days."</p><p>She grimaces out a smile in response.</p><p>"You should get back to work," he tells her gently, and opens his mouth to say more. Before he can, though…</p><p>"I'm cursed, Bill," she blurts out. Merlin, she probably shouldn't tell him but every time she tries to push him away, he finds a way to wrangle back into her life and she lets him. She lets him because she can't <em>not</em> let him. He's Bill Weasley. Of course she lets him.</p><p>Her rushed words make him pause and furrow his eyebrows at her, no doubt wondering why her eyes are shining so seriously. He opens his mouth, but before he can ask her what she's talking about, the door opens again and Fleur pokes her head into the room. Her eyes drift over Josie and lock onto Bill's.</p><p>"Bill, we'll be late if we don't leave now," she says, then finally looks at Josie and furrows her brows at her unkempt state. "Are you alright, Jozephine?"</p><p>Josie hurriedly wipes away the remainder of her tears and mutters out an affirmative, but Fleur is already turning back to Bill to impatiently say, "Our lunch break has already started. If we do not leave now, we will be late." She glances back at Josie to send her a quick, if not slightly concerned smile, before ducking back out of the room to gather her things.</p><p>Josie stares at Fleur as she disappears, then turns to stare at Bill, who is shuffling his feet as if he's not sure whether he should stay to make sure she's alright or go with his fiancée.</p><p>Fleur wins, of course. Of course.</p><p>"Everything'll be alright, Josie," Bill hurriedly tells her, then sends her one last smile before turning to the door and leaving, just as quickly as he'd come.</p><p>This time, Josie ends up staring at the door for even longer than she had after Wright had angrily stormed off. She lets out another laughing hiccup and reaches up to brush more tears away.</p><p><em>Of course</em> taking Fleur out is more important to Bill than her curse. This is exactly the reason why she had decided not to tell him in the first place. She knew that he'd be too distracted to help her. He probably thinks that she's just being dramatic. Merlin, if only she <em>was</em>.</p><p>The remainder of the day passes uneventfully, which she's very grateful for. After wiping away her tears and scolding herself for being such a crybaby these days, she heads back to her office to finish up her work. All in all, considering her situation, things could be worse.</p><p>Well, maybe. See, the problem is that whenever she <em>thinks</em> that things could be worse, they have an annoying tendency of <em>getting</em> worse. In this case, this happens when she arrives back at her office and sees a frilly envelope waiting for her on her desk. Call it some bolt of premonition, but she knows exactly what it is the moment her eyes land on it. Of course, her foreknowledge could also be due to the fact that it smells <em>exactly</em> like Fleur Delacour's expensive French perfume.</p><p>She sits down with tentative hesitation and stares at it for a long moment, before swallowing tightly and reaching into her desk to get out a quill. She doesn't open it, or even try to push it out of sight. Instead, she just tries to forget that it's there and starts diving into her work, as if hoping that if she doesn't acknowledge its existence, she can pretend that it doesn't exist at all. Some part of her must know that she won't be able to ignore it forever, though.</p><p>"Josie, did you get an invite? I heard Bill asked you to be his Best Man! How <em>progressive!"</em> Janice from the second floor gushes during a late afternoon break, in which Josie heads over to get more tea to combat a headache that's quickly rushing to the surface. She's been using the Moondew a lot lately and she's almost out of the small vial, so she's been trying to ration her use of it until she can go purchase more.</p><p>Josie sends Janice a strained smile and responds, "Yeah. Progressive."</p><p>Unfortunately, Janice doesn't seem to realize that Josie doesn't want to talk about this topic, and just adds, "Just think – you'll get to be <em>right next</em> to him when he says his vows. It's so lovely."</p><p>Josie swallows thickly and hums, hoping that it sounds agreeable. <em>Merlin. </em>She hadn't really thought about that. <em>Why</em> did she say yes when Bill asked her? Maybe it's because he's so damned perfect and she can never say <em>no</em> to him?</p><p>"Have you thought about where to take him for his bachelor's party yet?" Janice keeps gushing.</p><p>Fuck it all. She hadn't thought about that, either.</p><p>"Um…a pub I guess?" Josie stumbles.</p><p>Merlin, she hopes he doesn't want to go to a strip club. That's what lots of men do, right? One last hurrah before tying the knot? Of course, she's always thought that Bill was better than most men, but seeing as he's marrying Fleur Delacour, maybe he'll surprise her.</p><p>Janice smiles widely and says, "Has he told you where he's taking Fleur for the honeymoon?"</p><p>Oh god, the honeymoon. Josie doesn't want to think about that. Not that she actually thinks that Bill and Fleur haven't…you know, <em>done</em> it, but that's a little too much for her mind to handle right now. Her headache already seems to be transforming into a migraine, and picturing Bill and Fleur getting it on in some gorgeous hotel room isn't helping.</p><p>"I, uh, have – um. See you later, Janice," Josie stutters, powerwalking back to her office before Janice can ask her any more questions about Bill and his perfect fiancée. When she gets back to her desk and sees the frilly envelope waiting for her, though, she knows that avoiding it just isn't practical. If she doesn't deal with this right now, then she won't be able to get any more work done.</p><p>With a tired sigh, Josie collapses into her chair and rips open the parchment. She pauses for a moment before unfolding it, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath to prepare herself. Then with shaking fingers, she begins to read.</p><p>
  <em>William Arthur Weasley</em>
</p><p>
  <em>and</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Fleur Isabelle Delacour</em>
</p><p>
  <em>do humbly invite you to attend the celebration of their marriage</em>
</p><p>
  <em>to be held on the First of August</em>
</p><p>
  <em>at The Burrow, Ottery St. Catchpole, Devonshire</em>
</p><p>
  <em>dinner and dancing to follow</em>
</p><p>Josie breathes out and stares at Bill's name for a long moment, clenching the parchment tightly. She wants to rip it up, but she can't quite bring herself to tear his name.</p><p>God. She's so pathetic, but she just…always thought that it'd be <em>her</em> name, beside his. That he'd realize he loved her too. That he'd wake up one day and decide that he wanted her in his life for forever, by his side until death parts them, claiming her as his own in all the ways that he hasn't.</p><p>Pathetic.</p><p>She folds the parchment back up, sticks it back into the frilly envelope, and calmly puts it into her desk. Then she takes her quill and leans over her research, trying to focus on tracking down the Bolivian curse-breakers. She can't, though. It's a bit hard to focus when your eyes are swimming with tears.</p><p>"You told yourself you wouldn't cry over him anymore, Josie," she whispers furiously to herself. She's got a bad habit of doing that. Maybe it's because no one else around here knows that she's in love with her best friend, and therefore she can't talk to anyone about it.</p><p>She takes a shaky breath and closes her eyes again, trying to think about other things. Things that don't make her heart hurt. Things like the exhilaration of breaking through complicated curses and how much she hates Fleur Delacour. God she hates her. <em>She hates her.</em></p><p>Suddenly her migraine slams into her at full force, and she slams her quill down on her desk to reach up and massage her temples. She tells herself to calm down, but she can't. Her shoulders are suddenly knotted up with tension and she can't think around this migraine. She needs to get more Moondew or she's going to go crazy, so right after work, she decides to head into Knockturn Alley to talk to Catalina. If she's going to be out of the country for two weeks, it's best to be prepared.</p><p><em>Tesoros del Viejo Mundo </em>is just the same as it had been when she first stepped into it. The creepy taxidermy animals blink at her as she heads inside, but the eeriness of it all is washed away when she's once more surrounded by ancient artifacts from around the world. She feels just as amazed as she did the first time, and ends up idling by the door for a few more moments than she means to as she looks around.</p><p>"…Josephine? You didn't send word that you retrieved the coins. I'm afraid I'm not prepared for the ritual," Catalina's thickly accented voice suddenly says.</p><p>Josie jumps a bit and turns to the counter, where Catalina is standing. She hadn't noticed her there when she had first stepped inside. The witch has quiet footsteps, it seems.</p><p>"Oh, no, I haven't found any of the coins yet," Josie quickly says, feeling oddly foolish as she stands in the doorway beneath Catalina's sharp gaze. She suddenly wonders if she should have come at all, but then she remembers the migraine that's still blazing through her head and sets her shoulders back as she makes her way to the counter.</p><p>Catalina raises an eyebrow at her and asks, "What are you doing here, then? I thought we agreed that you'd retrieve all the coins before we met again?"</p><p>The witch sounds oddly annoyed at Josie's presence, until she explains, "I've run out of Moondew. I wanted to see if I could buy another vial."</p><p>Yes, at this explanation, Catalina's sharp eyes soften, and she smiles that cryptic smile again as she murmurs, "Ah. Yes, that can be arranged. I'm afraid it will cost you, though."</p><p>Josie inhales and nods, "I know. I've brought money."</p><p>The last of it until her next payday. She doesn't say that, though, and Catalina doesn't ask.</p><p>"Wait here," she says, before stepping over to the tapestry and pulling it aside. From Josie's vantage point, she can see the corner of the Conquistador painting for half a second before the tapestry falls back into place and shrouds it from view.</p><p>While she waits, Josie taps her fingers impatiently against the counter. She wonders what her mum would say, if she knew that her daughter was about to spend her last remaining coin on healing potions. Or if she knew that Josie was sleeping in a broom closet, for that matter. She cringes at the thought and decides never to mention it to her. Her mum doesn't need to know everything that goes on in her life, does she? Besides, she probably only just got back from her honeymoon. Josie wouldn't want to ruin her good mood with her problems, many as they are these days.</p><p>She doesn't want to ruin Bill's good mood, either. After nearly telling him about the curse and seeing his offhanded reaction to her words, Josie has since decided to revert back to avoiding him as much as she can and never breathing a word of her curse to him. Of course, she hadn't actually realized that this plan will inevitably fail until Janice had started asking her about bachelor parties and such things. That might throw a bit of a wrench in things. She wonders if it's too late to tell Bill that he should probably just ask Charlie or one of his other brothers to be take her place. She's trying to decide how angry Bill would be if she did when Catalina returns from the side room carrying the wooden box.</p><p>Josie straightens up as Catalina puts the box onto the counter and takes out another small vial. She places it in front of Josie and says, "Twenty galleons."</p><p>Josie, who is in the process of reaching out to take the vial, immediately stops and stares at Catalina with huge eyes.</p><p>"<em>Twenty galleons?" </em>she splutters. How can a tiny vial cost that much? She doesn't even have twenty galleons to her name right now.</p><p>Catalina raises an eyebrow and murmurs, "Like I said, it's pricy. I did warn you."</p><p>Right. She had. But…</p><p>"I just – I don't have twenty galleons," Josie admits, flushing beneath her collar. She's never been embarrassed about her humble roots before, but beneath Catalina's unimpressed stare, she suddenly feels incredibly uncomfortable.</p><p>Catalina tilts her head and sighs, "Hmm. Well, I'm afraid I can't give it to you, then. I <em>do</em> need to make a living, my dear. You understand, I'm sure."</p><p>Josie splutters again, but retracts her hand and merely clutches the counter. She swallows tightly and breathes, "Is there…is there something else you want?"</p><p>The question makes Catalina's eyes flash curiously. She raises an eyebrow and slowly murmurs, "You wish to make a deal? Tell me, what treasures do you often find in these temples you break into?"</p><p>Josie feels immediately annoyed at the wording of Catalina's sentence. After all, she isn't a thief, she's a curse-breaker. Instead of remarking on it, though, she merely grumbles, "I don't know, it depends on the site. Gold, silver, precious jewels…lots of different things."</p><p>Catalina hums, "Well…I'm sure some of those precious jewels would be enough."</p><p>Josie's mouth drops open. "You want me to steal ancient Incan treasure for you? That's exactly why I'm in this mess to begin with!"</p><p>Well sort of. She hadn't technically stolen the Incan coin, but the curse doesn't make distinctions between sentiment and greed, apparently.</p><p>Catalina sighs at her and says, "That's how you're paying the original members of the expedition, no? It's hardly any different." She's not sure how Catalina knows that this is her plan, and it makes Josie a bit unnerved until the woman raises an eyebrow and says, "That <em>is</em> how you're paying them, is it not? You told me yourself that you aren't in the best place financially right now, and I doubt they'll just hand over Incan coins without receiving anything in return."</p><p>Had she said that? She can't remember. To be honest, her meeting with Catalina some weeks ago seems strangely blurry to her, as if she only recalls bits and pieces of it.</p><p>"Well, yes, I suppose that's…true," she splutters. "But…I don't know. I could get into a lot of trouble if anyone finds out."</p><p>Catalina doesn't seem at all concerned, and merely reaches over to pluck the vial off the counter. "Well, if you're sure, Josephine. I wouldn't want you to get into tr – "</p><p>"I'll do it!" Josie exclaims, and grabs the vial before Catalina can even touch it. Then, feeling a bit foolish at the surprised expression on the witch's face, she clears her throat and says again in a calmer voice, "I'll do it. I'm leaving for Peru in the morning, so I'll see what I can do."</p><p>Catalina smiles slowly at her and responds, "Very well. I'll entrust that vial to you for now, but see to it that you return with payment the moment you arrive back to England."</p><p>There's something in her eyes that makes Josie think that she ought to listen – some shard of danger which tells her that Catalina is not a woman to be trifled with. She hadn't seen it there, before, but she does now. She feels a bit unnerved again, and just nods.</p><p>"I will," she says faintly, clutching the vial tightly against her chest.</p><p>Catalina smiles that cryptic smile once more and Josie nods again before taking her leave, hastily stepping into Knockturn Alley before the witch can call her back. She feels Catalina's eyes on her even after she begins to push her way through the crowd, and huddles deeper into her jacket as she tries to shake the chill that is settling in her heart.</p><p>This is worth it, she tells herself. She needs the Moondew. It's the only thing that's been able to cure her of the physical manifestations of her curse. Other health potions don't work. Healing spells do nothing. The doctors of St. Mungo's have already tried everything, and in the end they called her a crazy hypochondriac and told her to go home. No one believes her but Catalina.</p><p>Maybe someone else would believe her, if she actually took the time to explain it to him, but now more than ever, she wants to remove herself from Bill's life. As she makes her way back into Diagon Alley still clutching the Moondew tightly beneath her cloak, she thinks about the frilly wedding invitation that's still buried under other paperwork in her desk, and frowns. Yes, this is the best course of action. The less he knows, the better.</p><p>She makes her way to the end of the street, where The Leaky Cauldron awaits, and sighs and she steps inside. It would be a lie to claim that she's happy to be there, but like at least it's a roof over her head and there's no sign of Bill's perfect fiancée in sight. As she nods to Tom and heads over to the stairs leading to the upper floors, she scoffs under her breath. Fleur would no doubt have an aneurism if she had to live in a place like this. Then again, Fleur would never have to, because Bill would swoop in and save the day like he always does. He does have a tendency of being a bit too interested in the welfare of his friends and loved ones…</p><p>Which is probably why, when he had seen Josie leave Knockturn Alley some minutes prior, he hadn't hesitated to follow her here. He hovers in the doorway, watching Josie disappear up the stairs, and narrows his eyes. She hadn't seen him, of course, otherwise he's sure that she would have pretended to be here merely for a drink, and not – well. He storms over to the counter to find out exactly <em>why</em> Josie is here.</p><p>Tom is busy with some patrons at the counter when Bill shoulders his way into the middle of their group and staunchly declares, "I've got a few words for you, Tom."</p><p>Tom's immediate response to this is to stare at Bill with one eyebrow raised in bewilderment, until of course Bill glances over at the stairwell that leads to the upper floors where the rooms are located. That's when Tom's eyes become less bewildered and more annoyed.</p><p>"What is it <em>this</em> time?" he demands impatiently, stepping away from the group of patrons who are at this very moment eyeing Bill in a thoroughly disgruntled fashion, as if they're highly insulted at his interruption.</p><p>Bill clears his throat and steps away from them, then turns back to Tom and asks, "Why is Josie here? She told me she found a flat."</p><p>At this, Tom barks out a laugh. "More like a broom closet." He reaches for an empty glass and nods at Bill. "You gonna have a drink, or are you just planning on wasting my time?"</p><p>Bill pauses, frustration welling up inside of him, and then grabs a bar stool and collapses into it with a gruff, "Fine. A butterbeer. And while you're pouring it, you can explain to me why Josie is sleeping in a <em>broom closet."</em></p><p>Tom snorts at this, but merely begins to fill a mug of butterbeer from the tap. "Why don't you ask <em>her?</em> She <em>is</em> your Best Man, ain't she?" Bill raises his eyebrows, and Tom taps his nose with a shrugged, "She likes to complain after a stiff drink. I put up with 'er since she's paying me outta the nose for that closet."</p><p>Two things stand out to Bill as he listens to this. The first is that Josie is probably paying way more money than she ought to, though Bill still isn't entirely sure if it is an actual broom closet or if Tom is just exaggerating. The second is that apparently Josie has complained about him asking her to be his Best Man. He feels a bit offended at this notion, especially since she hadn't mentioned having a problem with it when he'd asked her.</p><p>The fact that she hadn't mentioned that she didn't want to be his Best Man makes him inexplicably angry, as does the fact that she hadn't told him that she was living at The Leaky Cauldron, or explained why she's visited Knockturn Alley twice in the same month, or why she seems to suddenly want to be as far away from him as possible.</p><p>Impatience leaching into his voice, Bill demands, "Why didn't she <em>tell</em> me? I offered her the spare room free of charge, for Merlin's sake."</p><p>Tom just shrugs again and offers, "Something about how she can't stand being around you. I dunno, Weasley. Like I said, ask <em>her."</em></p><p>With that, he deposits the butterbeer onto the counter and turns on his heel to deal with other customers, leaving Bill reeling.</p><p>What? She can't stand being around him? <em>Why?</em></p><p>Bill's expression slowly creases into a deep frown. He reaches for the butterbeer and lifts it to his lips, downing it in only a few gulps before he slams it back onto the counter and stands up. He straightens his jacket and sends a dark look towards the stairwell as he leaves.</p><p>Distancing herself from him, trips into Knockturn Alley, expeditions out of the country…</p><p>Something is going on with Josie Devonport, and he's going to get to the bottom of it.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Never Underestimate the Power of a Leather Jacket</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>In which Bill just can't help but get involved in Josie's life again, for better or worse.</p><p>Special thanks to Anne J Black over on FF.net for helping me out with the Spanish translations!! :)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  <strong>Chapter Five | Never Underestimate the Power of a Leather Jacket</strong>
</p><p>Traveling by portkey can be a tiring process, especially when you are traveling to another continent. Generally speaking, international travel is almost always done by use of portkey, unless you happen to be a very skilled wizard who can apparate across oceans. Seeing as most wizards are not this skilled, and that even the most skilled of the lot would probably deem it unwise to try, on the off chance that they end up stranded in the middle of the Atlantic, portkey travel has become standardized.</p><p>Josie isn't a huge fan of it, to be honest, but she's gotten accustomed to the long and exhausting journey from England to South America. It may not seem like such a big deal, taking a single portkey to your destination, but once you consider the fact that you'll be spiraling through the air at breakneck speeds, clutching onto the portkey for dear life for close to 6,000 miles, then you may start to realize that it can in fact be very exhausting indeed.</p><p>The morning of her departure to Peru, Josie is up bright and early. Her small rucksack is filled with all the necessities that she hadn't bothered packing before, and she sticks a couple of quills and a tightly sealed inkwell into the side flap along with the small journal she usually brings with her in case she needs to work out a particularly complicated curse. She'd gotten into the habit over the years to write down potential solutions whenever she's stuck on a challenging curse, and she hardly ever travels anywhere without it. Along with those things, she slips the small vial of Moondew into the side flap as well, then changes her mind and drops it into the pocket of her trousers instead, wanting to make sure it's safe.</p><p>With that, she spends a few minutes tidying up her small room, watering little Marcia who is sitting on top of her dresser, and making sure everything is in order. She takes one final glance into the small mirror she had set up, pausing to zip up her leather jacket and adjusting the tank top she's wearing beneath it. Her choice of traveling clothes is actually not as foolish as one may think. The leather jacket will protect her from the rough wind whilst portkeying to Brazil, her first stop. The warmer temperatures will naturally require short sleeves once she arrives, and well, she prefers jeans to khakis. Plus they go great with the tall boots she bends down to lace now, pulling them up to mid-calf and making sure they're double-knotted.</p><p>Gringotts is in possession of her first portkey, which is just as well because she needs to stop by her office to gather a few files anyway. When she steps into the bank, Janice from floor two whistles playfully at her and jokes, "How are you still single, Josie?"</p><p>Josie laughs at her but doesn't stop to chat. She's on a time schedule. Still, as she takes the lift to her office, she feels all sorts of confident. She's always eager to go on a new expedition, so she's in a fine mood by the time she heads back down to the ground floor after retrieving her files and other necessary paperwork for the case. Unfortunately, when she reaches the ground floor and heads to the floo networks where the portkey is waiting for her, her fine mood takes a bit of a beating.</p><p>Here is the reason:</p><p>Not only is Bill Weasley standing off to the side by one of the chimneys, dressed as if he's also ready for travel and standing beside a small duffel bag, but Fleur is here too, peppering Bill's face with kisses and cooing, "I will miss you, Billy. Stay safe, <em>oui?</em> Come back to me in one piece."</p><p>Josie slows to a halt in the doorway, eyeing the pair with a raised brow as she reminds her heart to stop being such a dramatic little shit and to stop thundering with the pain she always feels when she sees them together. Honestly, she ought to be used to this now.</p><p>Bill must see her out of the corner of his eye, because he clears his throat and gently pushes Fleur back. Fleur doesn't really take the hint, though, because she keeps touching him as if she thinks she'll never see him again, threading her fingers through his long hair as she tries to keep peppering his face with kisses.</p><p>"Fleur, it's only two weeks," Josie hears him murmur to her. She rolls her eyes and lets them have their moment. It's as she's stepping towards the portkey that's due to go off in about ten minutes from now that she realizes what Bill had just said.</p><p>Turning on her heel, Josie repeats, "Two weeks?"</p><p>But <em>she's</em> going on an expedition for two weeks.</p><p>Bill looks at her over Fleur's shoulder and opens his mouth to speak, but Fleur cuts him off when she turns to Josie and says, "You'll look after Bill, won't you Jozephine?"</p><p>Look after Bill? Whatever <em>for?</em></p><p>Josie's eyes narrow. She turns to Bill, who is watching her reaction closely, as if he's fully expecting her to blow up.</p><p>"You <em>must</em> be heading out on an assignment to Egypt," Josie carefully growls. "Because I know you wouldn't have gotten permission to tag along with me on <em>my</em> expedition."</p><p>Bill raises an eyebrow at her and shrugs, "This is an expedition funded by Gringotts. I can join it if I like."</p><p>He watches her eyes flash with fury, and knows he's pushing his luck. But to be honest, he doesn't really care. He's determined to find out what Josie is hiding from him, and if he needs to follow her to South America to do it, then so be it. She's a stubborn woman, but he can be just as stubborn when he wants to be.</p><p>"Why would you possibly want to come with me?" Josie demands, crossing her arms.</p><p>Bill crosses his arms too, and shrugs. "I've always wanted to learn more Spanish," he tells her dryly, clearly bullshitting her. He's not even <em>trying</em> to come up with a good excuse.</p><p>Josie swallows down her anger but can't quite dampen her glare. It certainly makes Fleur a bit wary, because she turns to Bill and whispers, "…Are you sure you want to go, Bill? I am worried for you."</p><p>Josie turns her glare to Fleur, but doesn't say anything else and just scoffs as she grabs the portkey. She turns back towards the door and marches towards it, not waiting for Bill. She finds herself actually hoping that Fleur throws herself at him, just to stop him from following her to the back of Gringotts. Alas, though, Bill is determined and not even Fleur Delacour can hold him back. With only one minute remaining before the portkey leaves, Bill joins her outside. She doesn't look at him, but she can feel him looking at her.</p><p>"I'm sure Wright was over the moon when he heard you'd be taking a jaunt through the rainforest," Josie scoffs after several beats of silence. She grudgingly holds the portkey out for him to grasp, still staring straight ahead.</p><p>Bill reaches out for it. This time around, the portkey is a goblet, and to get a good hold on it, his fingers brush against hers.</p><p>"He doesn't know yet," Bill replies with a blasé shrug, not looking like he cares all that much.</p><p>Josie finally shoots him a look, her eyes sharp. She sounds incredulous when she asks, "You didn't tell your superior that you were going off on a two week expedition? Are you <em>crazy?"</em></p><p>The nonchalant way he regards her angers her more than anything else. As does the way he casually responds, "Wright may be one of my superiors, but he doesn't have jurisdiction over my every decision."</p><p>Only seconds remain before the portkey leaves, but Josie can't help but turn to him and growl, "Let's get this straight right now – this is <em>my</em> expedition. You don't get to come along and take everything over just because you're – "</p><p><em>The infamous Bill Weasley,</em> she had been about to say, but unfortunately, her words get cut off when the portkey glows a bright blue and sends them both hurtling into the air. The rest of her sentence gets muffled by the surprised gasp that leaves her throat, and as they shoot upward into a dizzying spiral, Bill sends her a smug look.</p><p>"You were saying…?" he shouts over the rush of wind.</p><p>Josie glares at him and shouts back, "I was saying that you're a prat, Bill Weasley!"</p><p>Bill only looks amused, which certainly doesn't make her feel any better. She doesn't say anything more, though, because portkey travel does require some focus to make sure that you land in the right spot, and she decides that it would be best to make sure she doesn't get stranded in the middle of nowhere with Bill, who just so happens to be the last person she wants to be stuck with at the moment. Yes, traveling by portkey is tiring, especially when you have to travel with a man who has absolutely no idea that you've been in love with him for about as long as you can remember, and is intent on making it <em>impossible</em> to get over him.</p><p>Traveling across continents and, indeed, nearly halfway across the world, takes a while even by use of magic. Josie has made the trip many times before and closes her eyes against the rushing wind after checking her watch for the time. She's glad for the wind, because it makes it rather difficult to have a conversation, and so she merely grasps onto the portkey and tries to ignore Bill's fingers against hers.</p><p>When they finally land in Brazil, it's nearly four o'clock in the afternoon. After traveling through so many time zones so quickly, it's always a bit of a shock to see the sun already beginning to arch towards the horizon. The portkey takes them just outside of Fortaleza, where they will have to go through the equally tiring process that is customs. This isn't Bill's first time traveling internationally, so he seems to know what he's doing as he falls into step beside Josie on their way to queue up outside of the building near the docks. Muggles pass them by, occasionally glancing at the long line of strangely dressed people and no doubt wondering why they are all trying to get into this seemingly small building. They clearly don't see the sign above the door that says the equivalent of, 'Portkey Customs' in big, bold letters. The sign has been charmed to instead say, 'Restrooms'. If the long line to use this particular 'restroom' doesn't keep them away, the additional anti-muggle wards do the trick.</p><p>It takes nearly two hours to work their way through customs. During this time, Bill attempts a bit of small talk with her, but Josie remains stone-faced and responds in mono-syllable words to dissuade him from speaking. She's still quite unhappy that he had followed her to South America. To be honest, a large part of her is dying to know his reasons, but she's too stubborn and annoyed to ask him outright. That would break her stony silence, after all.</p><p>When they finally reach the main counter and deposit their luggage onto it, they've been standing in line for ages. The sun has already sunk below the horizon beyond the large windows, and even though her body still thinks that it's early afternoon, she's feeling a bit drowsy.</p><p>"Welcome to Brazil," the man behind the counter drones in a thick accent. "Any food items, unsealed liquids, sharp objects, volatile magical appliances, or unregistered animals?" he asks in a dreary voice as he opens Josie's rucksack.</p><p>"No," she responds, watching him root through her things just to make sure.</p><p>"On your honeymoon, are you?" the man then wonders, apparently in the mood to make small talk.</p><p>Josie raises an eyebrow in confusion, until Bill snickers by her side. That's when she realizes what the man is actually asking, and she sidles away from Bill with a scowl.</p><p>"No," she says, a little more forcefully. The man hazards a glance at her but thankfully doesn't ask any other embarrassing questions.</p><p>Honeymoon. Merlin!</p><p>Bill's duffle bag is checked and he answers the customary questions with a snickered, "No unregistered animals here, mate – well, unless you count this one," and jerks his thumb in Josie's direction.</p><p>Josie does not appreciate this, and glowers at him as she grabs her rucksack and throws it over her shoulder with a huff. She doesn't wait for him to do the same before she's marching off towards the opposite door. He ends up having to break into a jog to catch up to her, and nudges her shoulder with his when he falls into step beside her.</p><p>"It was just a joke, Josie," he says, casting a sideways glance at her.</p><p>She snorts and merely responds, "We can apparate over here. Come on."</p><p>She's not really upset about the joke, honestly. What she's angry about is the fact that he's here at all. As if being near him isn't bad enough – she now also has to figure out a way to make sure he doesn't catch onto the meeting Ricardo had helped her set up with Mauricio Moreno, who had agreed to meet them in Lima. She had it all planned out: meet up with Ricardo, get the Incan assignment wrapped up, and then travel to Lima to make the deal with Mauricio before catching her portkey back to England. With Bill tagging along though, he could very well ruin all of her carefully made plans.</p><p>"…Right," Bill mutters, and picks up his pace to match hers.</p><p>They exit out of a side door that empties onto a large cobblestone terrace, which is completely closed in on all sides by tall hedgerows. Bill discovers the reason for the privacy only moments after following Josie outside. Witches and wizards are apparating to and from the terrace, either departing the port or arriving to it. He sidesteps a man who is bustling towards the door, checking his watch every few seconds as he mumbles about being late, and very nearly walks right into a witch who apparates directly in front of him.</p><p>"<em>¡Con permiso!"</em> the woman says in a disgruntled voice as their shoulders bump into each other.</p><p>Bill mumbles out an apology but she doesn't linger, and merely hastens towards the doors that him and Josie had just left. Speaking of Josie, Bill realizes that he's no longer next to her and spins around, searching for her curly dark hair in the sea of other faces. It's only when she impatiently appears to his right and grabs his arm that he finds her again.</p><p>"Hurry up," she complains. "I want to get there before it gets too dark."</p><p>As her fingers thread between his in preparation for side-along apparition, Bill is finally able to ask the question that's been on his mind since stepping outside.</p><p>"Where are we going?" he wonders. He'd received a brief rundown from Artie when he'd volunteered to join the expedition, but Artie's quick description of the towns they'd be traveling through hadn't stuck.</p><p>Josie glances over at him, clutching her rucksack in one hand and holding onto his with the other, and says, "Cajamarca."</p><p>And then, with a pop, she apparates, and drags him along with her.</p><hr/><p>Cajamarca is unlike anything he's ever seen. Well – actually, that's not true. It's a city same as any other, with plenty of busy people walking its sidewalks. He's not all that impressed at first, because they apparate right in the middle of a muggle neighborhood and very nearly get run over by a car the moment their feet are planted on solid ground.</p><p>"<em>¡Quítate del medio!" </em>the man behind the wheel shouts at them, and only barely manages to veer out of the way before they get hit.</p><p>Josie releases Bill's hand and promptly begins to make sure all of her things have survived the trip, patting the pocket of her jeans and doing a quick check in the outside flap of her rucksack. She seems entirely apathetic to the fact that they nearly just got slammed into by a car, and merely slips the strap of her rucksack over her shoulder once she's decided that everything is as it should be.</p><p>"Well. Let's get going, then," Josie says over her shoulder as she turns down the street.</p><p>Bill is a tad bit bewildered at the events surrounding their arrival – and, for that matter, the fact that they've apparated into an obviously muggle part of town. As he follows Josie, he sees a woman hanging up her laundry in one yard, several young kids kicking a strange white and black ball into a net in another yard, and a pair of older men sitting on a nearby porch smoking cigarettes as they chat in rapid Spanish. There's no sign of magic anywhere in sight, which is slightly uncomfortable for him because he isn't all that accustomed to muggles in general.</p><p>Ah – another thing that makes Bill a tad bit uncomfortable is the fact that he really stands out around here. As if his bright red hair isn't enough to set him apart, his general style of dress certainly does the trick. As Josie leads them to the end of the street and down a slightly busier avenue, Bill isn't entirely sure if people are staring at him because of his complexion or simply because they've never seen a man with a long red-haired ponytail, a fang earring, and a pair dragon-hide leather boots before.</p><p>"This way," Josie calls to him before sharply turning down a nondescript alleyway. Upon further notice, he discovers that it's a dead end, and wonders if perhaps there's a magical doorway lurking around, like the muggle entrance into the Ministry of Magic in London. He turns out to be correct when Josie draws her wand and taps the brick wall twice. Well – actually, he doesn't discover this right away, because nothing actually happens at first.</p><p>"Fuck it all," Josie grumbles, and reaches out to demand, "Give me your wand for a moment. Mine's been acting up."</p><p>Bill raises an eyebrow. As he draws his wand and passes it to her, he incredulously asks, "You brought a faulty wand on an expedition to an ancient Incan temple? You do realize you need a wand to break curses, right?"</p><p>She just rolls her eyes at him and taps the wall again. "It only acts up some of the time." She hands his wand back and waits expectantly as the brick wall slowly transforms in front of them.</p><p>Bill bites back a sarcastic comment about how she could very well get them all killed if she mucks up one of the curses, and just stares at the wall as it fades into a transparent blue. The bricks disappear. In their place, a cobblestone street that looks remarkably similar to Diagon Alley appears.</p><p>"…Where are we going now?" he asks, eyeing the bluish portal with a discerning look. He feels a tad bit out of his comfort zone, to be honest. This is definitely different from his usual expeditions back in Egypt, where his experience usually makes him the team leader and he knows what to expect. Now, he's got no idea what to expect, and Josie still isn't talking to him.</p><p>She throws him an impatient look and responds, "I told you already – Cajamarca."</p><p>He's about to ask what she means, since they're already <em>in</em> Cajamarca, but before he can, Josie steps through the transparent blue and disappears. Bill stuffs his wand back into his pocket, grabs his duffle bag, and grumbles to himself as he steps through after her. His annoyance fades very quickly when he opens his eyes to <em>this</em> part of Cajamarca, though. This is when the amazement strikes him.</p><p>Though it's after nightfall now, the street is bustling with activity. Cajamarca obviously has its own magical quarter, and it looks like it's just as large as Diagon Alley, if not larger. It's impossible to tell at the moment because he's a bit distracted with following Josie as she starts walking down the street.</p><p>More rapid Spanish can be heard from passersby, who appear entirely unconcerned at the late hour as they amble down the streets. The shops are still open, pouring warm light onto the cobblestones. Nearly every door is propped open to let the fragrant air in, and Bill turns his head to look at the various wares being sold. Brightly colored robes in one window, native plants and potion supplies in another, and yet another shop selling strange monkey-like creatures with large eyes and striped tails, who hang upside down from the ceiling and try to pull off customers' hats when they aren't looking.</p><p>"Lemurs," Josie tells him, when she glances back and sees him staring at the creatures. She slows down her quick pace to explain, "Birds are still the primary way to send letters around here, but lemurs have gained a lot of popularity recently. I wouldn't risk it, myself. They tend to be easily distracted by colorful things."</p><p>Bill laughs a bit at this, and Josie sends him a shrugged smile before nodding her head down the street and saying, "We're nearly there."</p><p>Indeed, Josie stops only a few doors down, outside a small two story building. The ground floor looks to be a Mecca for herbologists, full of leafy plants and ferns that stretch right up to the ceiling. Bill catches sight of several plants that he's never seen before – colorful things with vibrant flowering buds and strong, broad leaves – but he doesn't have time to browse the window selection before Josie is walking to a nondescript door that's wedged between the shop and another building.</p><p>She reaches for the doorknob and begins to twist it, but then pauses and turns to eye Bill with a careful look. "Before we go inside, I should probably warn you," she begins hesitantly, "your hair will be pulled. Also, you may want to take your earring out. Ah, and don't be offended if they ignore you. They don't speak much English. Oh, and it's best to just let Zanetta get her fussing out of the way."</p><p>Throughout all of this, Bill's eyebrows raise higher and higher, unsure if he feels amused or wary at Josie's warnings. It isn't until they enter the room on the upper level of the building that he understands the reasons for said warnings. After walking up a narrow flight of stairs and knocking on the single door located at the top, Bill is immediately caught off guard at the very loud welcome they receive. A tall, muscled woman who looks to be in her fifties opens the door. The moment she sees Josie, her serious expression is transformed into a broad smile.</p><p>"<em>¡Josie, te estábamos esperando! ¿Cómo estuvo tu viaje?" </em>the woman exclaims, throwing her arms around Josie's slim shoulders and crushing the life out of her with an encompassing hug.</p><p>Josie hugs the woman back and, much to Bill's surprise, murmurs, <em>"Estuvo bien… Un poco agotador."</em></p><p>Since when did Josie know how to speak Spanish? Did she pick it up during her many trips to South America, or did he just not realize that she was studying it when they were younger? She never mentioned taking it up, so it must have been after they graduated…</p><p>As Josie pulls out of the bone-crushing hug, the woman finally notices him standing behind her and raises her eyebrows. Again, he isn't sure if it's because of his bright red hair or his general fashion sense, but the stare makes him shuffle a bit on his feet as she looks him over with eyes that are suddenly a touch fiercer. The woman honestly looks like she just walked out of a story about Amazonian warriors and it's a bit unnerving, being stared at so boldly.</p><p>"<em>¿Quién es este muchacho?" </em>the woman wonders, glancing at Josie. There's something strangely coy in her voice, and it seems to make Josie a bit uncomfortable because she blushes.</p><p>"<em>Es un compañero de trabajo," </em>Josie quickly responds, and then asks,<em> "¿Ricardo llegó?"</em></p><p>The woman makes a <em>tsking</em> sound in the back of her throat as she turns her eyes back to Bill, studying him closely again. She catches his eye and winks, then steps aside and says, <em>"Todavía no. Él te encontrará mañana en las afueras de la ciudad. Pero entra, recién sirvo la cena"</em></p><p>Josie sends the woman a smile as she steps through the door, and glances at Bill over her shoulder. "She said she just served dinner. Come on."</p><p>Bill hesitates. The woman reaches out to shake his hand, gesturing at herself and saying, <em>"Zanetta."</em></p><p>She's got a strong handshake.</p><p>He smiles and does the same, clearing his throat before responding with a simple, "Bill. Er – nice to meet you."</p><p>Zanetta smiles widely at him and pats his hand. The maternal action is almost strange, considering that Zanetta does not outwardly appear to be maternal at all. There is a fierceness to her eyes that rather counteracts the way she's fussing.</p><p>"<em>Josie, pregúntale si le gusta la carne," </em>Zanetta suddenly says, glancing over at Josie as she releases his hand.</p><p>Josie sends Zanetta a playfully exasperated look and says, <em>"Sí, le gusta. No te embrolles."</em></p><p>Zanetta rolls her eyes right back and nudges Josie's shoulder as Bill says, "Right. Uh – thank you for letting us stay with you." Though, to be honest, he isn't entirely sure if that's what's happening since Josie hasn't actually bothered to explain their presence here. Based on the way she isn't correcting him, though, he assumes that he's right.</p><p>Despite Josie's claims that Zanetta doesn't speak much English, she seems to understand it well enough and looks pleased as she claps him on the shoulder and gestures for him to step into the house. As he does, he realizes that it's a lot bigger on the inside than it appears to be on the outside. A short hallway empties them into a spacious sitting room, complete with two couches placed between a low coffee table and a few comfortable looking armchairs near the fireplace, which is set into the far wall. Upon closer inspection, Bill sees a small head of dark, unruly hair occupying the couch facing away from him, and a moment later, a child pops up and hangs over the back of it. It doesn't take very long for the child to turn wide eyes to him. Or, more specifically, his hair.</p><p>"<em>Abuelita, ¿Por qué ese hombre tiene pelo de fuego?" </em>the child exclaims, gripping the back of the couch tightly as he eyes Bill's fiery long hair.</p><p>Zanetta laughs loudly at this. Josie does too, and Bill is filled with the distinct impression that he is the butt end of a joke.</p><p>"Apparently you've got fire hair," Josie explains when she sees his confused expression. She snorts out another laugh and says, "That's Alfonso, Zanetta's grandson. There's not many redheads around here, so I reckon you're something of a novelty."</p><p>Bill laughs a bit at this and sends the child a wink. Alfonso grins back toothily and scrambles off the couch, shouting, <em>"Mami, ¡Hay un hombre con pelo de fuego en la sala de estar!"</em></p><p>Zanetta follows Alfonso into a large kitchen, which, as Bill quickly discovers, is full to bursting with people.</p><p>A younger man who looks to be in his late thirties picks Alfonso up and glances at them as they enter the room. A woman is standing over the stove stirring a pot of stew with one hand and holding a squirming toddler in the other. There's another man near the sink, flicking his wand as he washes dirty dishes and makes faces at the toddler, and several other kids running amuck through the space, seemingly in the midst of a very fierce battle over who gets the last chocolate biscuit.</p><p>When Zanetta walks into the room and loudly shouts, <em>"¡Llegó Josie!",</em> though, everyone turns at once to stare. A very brief silence falls, before…</p><p>"<em>¡Josie! ¿Cómo has estado? ¡Pasó tanto tiempo!"</em></p><p>"<em>¿Quién es este? Está churro."</em></p><p>Josie laughs and embraces everyone, firing off rapid Spanish in the wake of their questions. As for Bill, he stands off to the side a bit awkwardly, suddenly wishing that he knew more of the language so that he could take part in the conversation. After a few minutes, though, Josie returns to his side and announces,<em> "Él es Bill. Es un rompemaldiciones."</em></p><p>Then she turns to him and begins to list off names, gesturing to each person as she identifies them. "That's Mateo and his wife Isidora, and their kids Feliciti, Freira, and Frescura. And that over there is Gregorio, Alfonso's dad. Isidora and Gregorio are Zanetta's children. Ah – and there's Marco, Zanetta's husband. He's a curse-breaker too, same as his youngest son, Ricardo. You'll meet him tomorrow. He'll be accompanying us to the temple – "</p><p>Zanetta ushers them both to the table in the middle of the kitchen and says something to the woman at the stove, who Bill assumes is Isidora, Zanetta's daughter. As the younger woman begins to ladle some stew into two bowls, Josie and Bill sit down. The moment Bill takes a seat, he understands why Josie had warned him about his earring. One of the kids promptly, and very unapologetically, scrambles into the chair beside Bill and leans over to stare at the fang that dangles from his ear. The little girl pauses only a moment before reaching out to grab it, making Bill stiffen a bit in discomfort. The girl's father, Mateo, is quick to intercede, scooping the girl up into his arms with a gentle scolding before shooting Bill an apologetic look.</p><p>Beside him, Josie snorts. "I did warn you. Just wait until they get their hands on your hair. Frescura is already eyeing it."</p><p>Ah. Frescura must be the little girl who is currently hanging off her mother's leg, staring shyly at Bill. Her eyes are intensely curious despite her shyness. When Josie says her name, she smiles quietly at them. Bill smiles back, hoping to make her more comfortable around him. Helping his mum and dad with all of his younger siblings has made him pretty good with kids, but Frescura still seems a bit shy as she ducks behind Isidora's leg.</p><p>Zanetta's husband, Marco, takes a seat across the table from them and sends Josie a raised brow. As his wife bustles around the kitchen, he says, <em>"Es la primera vez que te veo con este hombre, Josie. ¿Quién dijiste que era?"</em></p><p>"He wants to know who you are, since he's never seen you with me," Josie tells Bill, then turns back to Marco and shrugs, "A friend."</p><p>Isidora manages to shake Frescura off of her leg and hands the toddler in her arms to her brother, Gregorio, who is leaning against the counter as he watches the conversation. When their bowls are placed in front of them, Isidora coyly repeats, <em>"¿Un amigo? ¿Estás segura?" </em>Josie sends her a look, but Isidora just nudges her playfully and leans closer to murmur, <em>"¿Ya te lo llevaste a la cama?"</em></p><p>At this, Josie blushes brightly and complains, "Isidora!"</p><p>Bill glances over at them in confusion, wondering why Josie looks so embarrassed, but before he can inquire into whatever Isidora had said, Zanetta shoots Isidora a look and places two glasses of water in front of them.</p><p>It only goes downhill from there.</p><p>"You are married?" Marco asks in a very thick accent, his broken English something of a surprise after the endless stream of Spanish. He glances over at Bill with curious eyes.</p><p>Bill swallows a bite of stew and shrugs, "Engaged."</p><p>The moment this word leaves Bill's mouth, the entire kitchen, from adults to children, falls into silence. And then…</p><p>"<em>¡Comprometida!" </em>Isidora exclaims with a wide grin.</p><p>"<em>¡Nunca nos lo contaste, Josie!"</em> Zanetta cries happily.</p><p>"<em>Entonces pueden compartir el cuarto que pertenecía a Ricardo,"</em> Gregorio shrugs.</p><p>Josie's face is a bright red. Bill merely looks incredibly confused.</p><p>"…What's going on?" he murmurs to her in bewilderment, as he watches Isidora dramatically fan her face and rapidly fire out Spanish to Josie's immediate right.</p><p>Josie doesn't respond to him and just holds out her hands and says, <em>"¡No estamos comprometidos!"</em> To Bill's continued bewilderment, she repeats this sentence several times, but no one appears to be listening to her because they're too busy exclaiming, <em>"Felicidades, Josie!",</em> and her voice gets completely drowned out.</p><p>With a sigh, Josie turns to glower at Bill and grouse, "Great. Now thanks to you, they think <em>we're</em> engaged."</p><p>Bill can't quite help himself from laughing out loud at this, which is probably not the reaction Josie was expecting or even hoping for, because her glower grows a touch more intense.</p><p>"<em>¡Yo sabía que te lo habías tirado!"</em> Isidora crows.</p><p>Josie blushes even deeper and Bill laughs at her again – until of course she snaps, "You do <em>realize</em> what this means now? We'll have to share a room."</p><p>His laughter abruptly halts at her words. To his horror, he actually feels his cheeks redden just so as well. After all, it's been many years since they had last bunkered down in his bedroom at the Burrow. They'd been kids back then and it hadn't been a big deal, but it's different, now. For one, they're both adults, and there's also the small fact that he's engaged to another woman.</p><p>"Er…" he trails off, not entirely knowing what to say. He isn't about to tell her that he followed her to Peru because he's wondering if she's gotten involved in dark magic recently. She'd probably bite his head off if he told her that he saw her leaving Knockturn Alley twice now, and accuse him of following her. As for sharing a bed, well, he isn't sure there's <em>anything</em> to say about that, to be honest.</p><p>The remainder of dinner is pretty much a repeated series of hearty congratulations and more rapid Spanish that Bill doesn't understand, but seems to make Josie's blush deepen with every moment. He's fairly certain that Isidora is saying things of a…questionable nature, if her coy voice is any indication. He doesn't have to know the language to catch an innuendo when he hears it, and it would certainly explain Josie's blushing cheeks. As for the others, the men don't seem to care all that much, and after brief congratulations, they cease and disperse into the sitting room, dragging the kids with them. Alfonso, who looks to be about six or seven, remains behind to stare at Bill's hair, clamoring into one of the empty chairs and peering at him with the sort of intense curiosity that only a child can muster.</p><p>An hour or so later, Zanetta ushers them down a hallway until she reaches a door at the end of it, which she opens to a small bedroom. Josie sighs and steps inside, with a slightly more hesitant Bill following after her. Zanetta says something to Josie that makes Josie sigh again, still blushing, before the older woman snickers and takes her leave, calling out a loud, <em>"Buenos noches,"</em> behind her.</p><p>The moment the door swings shut, Josie drops her rucksack on the floor and turns on him.</p><p>"You just <em>had</em> to say that you were engaged, didn't you?" she mutters, pushing her hair back with both hands. After a day of spiraling through the air via portkey, it's messier than usual, and she hits quite a few knots as she wrangles it out of its ponytail.</p><p>Bill grimaces and shrugs. "I didn't think they'd…jump to conclusions," he awkwardly responds, tossing his bag onto the very small bed. Really, it's too small for two people, which only makes this whole situation that much worse. He eyes it for a moment before clearing his throat and turning back to her. His voice is a bit too optimistic when he says, "It's not like we've never bunked together before. It'll be like old times."</p><p>At this, Josie purses her mouth and glances over at the bed too, biting back the words that want to spring from her lips.</p><p>
  <em>Yeah, well, back then we were kids and I wasn't desperately in love you.</em>
</p><p>Right. Better to keep that one to herself. Instead, she just gestures to a door that Bill had assumed to be a closet, and says, "You can take the first shower if you want. I've got to brush out my hair anyway."</p><p>Awkwardness still hangs heavy in the air as he nods and riffles through his bag for some clean clothes. He mutters a brief agreement and heads towards the door, only glancing at her when it's swinging shut. Even though they're best friends, it still feels distinctly strange to get undressed when he knows that she's only one door away, but the tension fades once he steps under the water and begins to relax. There's really nothing like a hot shower after a day of travel.</p><p>Unfortunately, the tension returns the moment he steps out, throws on some pajama bottoms and an old undershirt, and walks back into the bedroom. Josie is sitting on the edge of the bed, her dark hair fanned out over one shoulder as she runs a brush through the frizzy curls. He once again pushes back the awkwardness and tries to smile at her as he gestures towards the bathroom and says, "Water's still hot."</p><p>Her responding smile is really more of a grimace, but he doesn't remark on it as she puts her brush onto the nightstand and grabs her rucksack, taking the whole thing into the bathroom with her before shutting the door a bit forcefully. Bill stares at it for a long moment before turning his attention to the bed, wondering if the night is going to just keep getting more awkward than it already is.</p><p>Oh, it does. Just because Josie is in a different country doesn't mean that her bad luck had decided to give her a break. Of course, right now she's blaming Bill more than her curse, because if he had <em>told</em> her he'd be nosing his way into her life once again and following her to Peru, she would've packed some actual pajamas. Once she shuts the bathroom door behind her, she immediately kneels down on the floor to root through her belongings, trying to find a tank top that isn't too low cut and a pair of shorts that aren't too short. She hadn't expected that she'd be sharing a bed with Bill. The man she's in love with. The man who has never seen her in anything but jeans and band t-shirts. The man who, once she impatiently gives up her search and just takes her damned shower, stares at her with very wide eyes when she finally reappears twenty minutes later.</p><p>"What are you <em>wearing?"</em> he demands, eyeing her legs. He hadn't realized they were so…long.</p><p>Josie glowers at him and snaps, "Oh, I'm sorry. Am I making you uncomfortable? Maybe you should have thought of that before telling everyone that we're engaged."</p><p>At this, Bill grumbles, "You know I didn't mean to make them think that. Plus it's not like you tried that hard to tell them otherwise."</p><p>She crosses her arms, which is very bad because it makes her breasts lift just so and Bill notices. It's a bit hard not to, considering that he hadn't realized she was so…well-endowed.</p><p>Merlin, what is wrong with him? Josie is his <em>best friend.</em></p><p>"I did try. It's impossible to get through to Isidora and Zanetta when they're in one of their moods," she fires back, and then realizes where he's looking and awkwardly uncrosses her arms. Bill clears his throat just as awkwardly and shuffles over on the bed to give her room, trying to wrangle down his blush.</p><p>"For someone who traipses through rainforests on her off days, you don't pack very smart nightclothes," he mumbles to himself, his cheeks still annoyingly flushed.</p><p>Josie purses her lips and marches to the bed, determined not to make this anymore awkward than it already is. As she throws back the blankets and joins him, though, she thinks that she's probably being too optimistic. It's still incredibly awkward. Actually, considering how small the bed is, it's even more awkward.</p><p>"Well I didn't realize you'd stalk me across continents," she shoots back, still thoroughly blaming him for this lapse in judgement. "You should've told me you'd be coming along."</p><p>Bill frowns and turns his head to respond, but he fails to remember just how close they are in this small bed, and the words end up dying on his tongue. It's bad enough that he can feel her thigh pressing against his as they sit side by side. He can also smell her shampoo and feel her body heat and he feels something strange stir in his chest. Something unknown to him, because he's never felt it before, with Josie.</p><p>"I don't know why you're so upset about me coming along," he mumbles, his gaze drifting curiously over her profile. Her skin glows in the dim light, tanned from her many trips to this sunny continent. As he studies her face, he says, "…I would've been overjoyed if you had visited me when I was stationed in Egypt."</p><p>She glances over at him with sharp eyes, and he wonders at the way the brown tones of them look so strangely hooded.</p><p>"I wanted to visit you, remember? But you said you were too busy and not to come," she reminds him, but this time there's something else in her voice, besides annoyance. Something else unknown to him, that he thinks sounds a bit like hurt.</p><p>He stares at her, and she stares back, and then he quietly murmurs, "Was it Egypt?"</p><p>Confusion bolts through her eyes. "What?" she asks.</p><p>He frowns as he wonders, "Did our friendship start deteriorating because I ended up staying in Egypt?"</p><p>He's been trying to figure it out for a while now, how their relationship had gotten like this. They used to do everything together back at Hogwarts. There wasn't a single thing that they kept from the other; no secret left unspoken. These days, though, he's lucky to see her even once a day despite them working in the same building, and they haven't actually sat down together to talk about their lives for ages. If it wasn't for the fact that Josie had gotten kicked out of her flat some weeks prior, he doubts he would even be here now.</p><p>Josie stares at him for a long moment. She doesn't seem to know what to say to his inquiry, and Bill isn't sure if he should press her for answers. Things are so stilted between them now. It's as if they've grown into separate people without the other realizing it. Or – maybe it's just him who hadn't realized it. Maybe he's just been so busy with his job and his fiancée and going out on missions for the Order that he hadn't noticed, before, if his absence had really affected their friendship so much.</p><p>She releases a breath and turns away, reaching for the lamp on the nightside table. Instead of responding, she just flicks it off and pulls the blankets to her shoulders, turning away from him so that he's staring at her back through the darkness. It's only when he sighs and lays down as well that she murmurs, "…I don't know, Bill."</p><p>But she does know. His two-year stunt in Egypt had been the first nail in the coffin of their friendship, but it wasn't the last. No, the last nail is currently back in England, fanning her perfect blonde hair and waiting for her precious 'Billy' to return to her. But Josie doesn't dare breathe a word of that, because she knows she has no right to complain. Bill has made his choice and it isn't her, and she just has to learn to accept it.</p><p>She hears him sigh from behind her, but he doesn't say anything else, and so she closes her eyes and tries to fall asleep. But –</p><p>It takes her a very long time.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Translations:</strong>
</p><p>"<em>¡Josie, te estábamos esperando! ¿Cómo estuvo tu viaje?" – Josie! We've been waiting for you! How was your trip?</em></p><p>"<em>Estuvo bien… Un poco agotador." - It was fine…a bit tiring.</em></p><p>"<em>¿Quién es este muchacho?" – Who's this?</em></p><p>"<em>Es un compañero de trabajo. "¿Ricardo llegó?" – He's a coworker. Is Ricardo here?</em></p><p>"<em>Todavía no. Él te encontrará mañana en las afueras de la ciudad. Pero entra, recién sirvo la cena." – Not yet. He'll meet you tomorrow outside of town. But come inside, I just served dinner.</em></p><p>"<em>Josie, pregúntale si le gusta la carne." – Josie, ask him if he likes meat.</em></p><p>"<em>Sí, le gusta. No te embrolles." – He does. Stop fussing.</em></p><p>"<em>Abuelita, ¿Por qué ese hombre tiene pelo de fuego?" – Grandma, why does that man have fire hair?</em></p><p>"<em>Mami, ¡Hay un hombre con pelo de fuego en la sala de estar!" – Mama, there's a man with fire hair in the living room!</em></p><p>"<em>¡Llegó Josie!" – Josie is here!</em></p><p>"<em>¡Josie! ¿Cómo has estado? ¡Pasó tanto tiempo!" – Josie! How have you been? It's been far too long!</em></p><p>"<em>¿Quién es este? Está churro." – Who's this? He's handsome.</em></p><p>"<em>Él es Bill. Es un rompemaldiciones." – This is Bill. He's a curse-breaker.</em></p><p>"<em>Es la primera vez que te veo con este hombre, Josie. ¿Quién dijiste que era?" – I've never seen you with this man before, Josie. Who did you say he was?</em></p><p>"<em>¿Un amigo? ¿Estás segura? "¿Ya te lo llevaste a la cama?" – A friend? Are you sure? Have you taken him to bed yet?</em></p><p>"<em>¡Comprometido!" – Engaged!</em></p><p>"<em>¡Nunca nos lo contaste, Josie!"</em> <em>– You never told us, Josie!</em></p><p>"<em>Entonces pueden compartir el cuarto que pertenecía a Ricardo."</em> -<em> That means they can share Ricardo's old room.</em></p><p>"<em>¡No estamos comprometidos!"</em> – <em>We aren't engaged!</em></p><p>"<em>¡Yo sabía que te lo habías tirado!"</em> <em>– I knew you'd taken him to bed!</em></p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Never Say No to a Sexy Peruvian</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>In which Bill is graced with meeting the sexiest Peruvian alive (in Ricardo's modest opinion, anyway)</p><p>I am naturally very excited to hear what everyone thinks of dear Ricardo and his burgeoning hobby of getting on Bill's nerves :) Hope you're all having a lovely week</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  <strong>Chapter Six | Never Say No to a Sexy Peruvian (though some exclusions do apply)</strong>
</p><p>Josie wakes up feeling warm. She doesn't realize why, at first. All she knows is that the hard mattress of her broom closet room at The Leaky Cauldron has never felt so comfortable – or smelled so good, for that matter. She presses her nose against the warmth and sighs out, stretching languorously as her eyes flutter open.</p><p>Oh – it's just Bill. That would explain the mesmerizing scent and the incredible –</p><p>Bill.</p><p>Her eyes snap open and she freezes. The realization that she's nuzzling her face against his neck shudders through her, as does the fact that her leg is currently thrown over his hips and his hand has somehow found its way down to her thigh, holding it in place. Sometime during the night, they must have gravitated towards each other, because now he's got her wrapped up in his arms and doesn't look like he's about to let her go. Holy Merlin, this is bad. She <em>knew</em> she should have just slept on the floor. Thank god she's the first one awake or this trip would have gotten even more awkward.</p><p>Right. Josie shuffles back as quietly as she can, trying not to disturb him. She reaches under the blankets to pry his hand off of her thigh, for once grateful that he's such a heavy sleeper. Honestly, the man could sleep through anything. He even slept through one of the twins' pranks back when Josie was staying at the Burrow the summer of sixth year. She still doesn't understand how he hadn't woken up when they had drawn the mustache and sideburns on him with that magical permanent ink from Zonko's.</p><p>The memory of a younger Bill walking down the stairs of the Burrow, none the wiser to his altered appearance, nearly makes her snicker. Her laughter disappears, though, when Bill lets out a sleepy sigh and curls his hand back around her thigh, then up over her hip, until he reaches her lower back. He drags her entire body against his and murmurs something beneath his breath as he buries his face into her hair.</p><p>Fuck. This is really bad. She really doesn't want to leave, now.</p><p>The temptation to just close her eyes and fall back asleep is strong. The devil on her shoulder whispers at her that she might as well make the most of it. After all, she'll never have this chance again. But – the angel on the other shoulder is reminding her that Bill is engaged, that he probably thinks she's Fleur, and that this is wrong on so many levels. It's only when she realizes how insane she's being that she sighs in frustration and decides that she really needs to extricate herself from him. Preferably before he wakes up and discovers that he's holding the wrong woman.</p><p>She thanks Merlin again that Bill Weasley is such a heavy sleeper, because she doubts she would have been able to get out of this bed if he wasn't. As it is, though, the several minutes she spends wrangling his arm off of her waist is ultimately successful, and when she's finally standing next to the bed and not being tightly held by the man who is occupying it, she breathes out a little easier.</p><p>He's still not awake even after she heads into the bathroom to brush her teeth and get ready for the day. Ten minutes later, when she slips back into the bedroom, Bill is still completely out of it, his long hair strewn over the pillow as he sleeps. Josie rolls her eyes at him and leaves the room. If she shuts the door a little too loudly on her way out, well, he needs to wake up sometime.</p><p>She still feels a bit flushed as she makes her way into the kitchen, and is still cursing Bill for following her to Peru as she collapses into one of the chairs. Marco, who is reading the local newspaper at the table, says good morning when he sees her. His eyes twinkle slightly as he glances at her, but Josie doesn't notice because Zanetta is bustling towards her with a towering plate of breakfast.</p><p>"<em>Buenos días,"</em> she greets cheerfully. <em>"¿Cómo dormiste?"</em></p><p>Josie sends her a grateful smile and digs in. <em>"Bien, gracias,"</em> she says around a mouthful of omelet. Zanetta's cooking is literally incredible.</p><p>Zanetta and Marco exchange a look that Josie doesn't see, because she's too busy greeting Mateo, Isidora's husband, who is entering the kitchen with little Freira. The toddler is wiggling around in her father's arms, chanting, <em>"¡Bájame, bájame, papi!"</em></p><p>Mateo sends Josie an exasperated look, and Josie laughs and holds out her arms, saying, <em>"Déjame alzarla, Mateo."</em></p><p>Mateo hesitates for a moment to warn, <em>"Está un poco berrinchuda," </em>but Josie just gestures again and Mateo doesn't complain, dropping Freira into her arms with an expression of baited relief.</p><p>"<em>Gracias, Josie,"</em> he says, and heads over to the coffee pot to pour himself a cup.</p><p>Freira stares up at Josie for all of two seconds before she says<em>, "¡Bájame, bájame!" </em>Josie laughs at her and turns in her chair, abandoning breakfast to instead set the toddler on her knee as she repeats, <em>"¿Bájame? ¿Por qué?" </em>She makes a funny face at Freira, who stops squirming to stare up at her with wide eyes.</p><p>That's how Bill finds her some minutes later, when he sleepily steps into the kitchen. He's in the process of pulling his hair into a low ponytail, but when he sees Josie and Freira, a soft look enters his eyes.</p><p>"<em>Buenos días," </em>Zanetta loudly greets when she catches sight of him, sending him a wide smile.</p><p>Bill smiles back, murmuring a low 'good morning' as he slips into the chair beside Josie. He leans around her to look at Freira, who, the moment she sees him, shouts, <em>"¡Fuego!"</em></p><p>Josie laughs loudly and coos, <em>"Sí, su pelo está prendido fuego."</em></p><p>Bill shoots her a bewildered glance, but Josie is too busy with Freira. She's suddenly very glad that the toddler is in one of her moods this morning, because it gives her a good excuse not to look at Bill directly. She's feeling a bit flustered all of the sudden, remembering all too vividly how he had pulled her so closely and held her so warmly.</p><p>Isidora enters the kitchen just as Zanetta is putting a plate of breakfast in front of Bill. When she sees Freira in Josie's arms, she tuts and throws a look at Mateo, who raises his hands in surrender. Isidora just sighs and approaches Josie's chair, leaning down to kiss her daughter's cheek. She's dressed for work, wearing a grey pencil skirt and a button-up shirt tucked into the waistband. A quick glance at the clock tells Josie that Isidora will probably be heading out soon. She works in an office building on the other end of Cajamarca, doing advertising work for magical firms.</p><p>Her and Mateo actually live in a small cottage just outside the city, but since Freira had come into their lives, it's gotten a bit too small to live in comfortably. Mateo is taking the week off from work to do some house-hunting for them and Zanetta had offered to watch the kids in the meantime, since Isidora is currently heading a large project for her agency. Something about a hair potion that claims it can grow your hair to your knees overnight.</p><p>Anyway, point is that the house is usually much quieter, but since they had heard that Josie would be here (and Ricardo, who they rarely get to see due to their schedules), they figured that this was as good a time as any to look into new places. Of course, Josie suspects that it'll take them a while to actually find a house. Isidora is something of a perfectionist, which drives Mateo crazy.</p><p>As Isidora heads over to get herself some coffee, she glances back at Bill and eyes his sleepy countenance with an amused look on her face<em>. "A tu prometido le gusta dormir,"</em> she comments with a smirk. Then, raising her coffee mug to her lips, she teasingly asks<em>, ¿Lo dejaste cansado anoche?"</em></p><p>Bill is once more confused as to why Josie immediately blushes a very bright red and exclaims, "Isidora!"</p><p>Isidora just laughs loudly and sends Bill a wink, which only serves to confuse him even more. Especially when Zanetta lightly slaps her daughter's shoulder for the comment, and Marco snorts in amusement and peers at them from over the top of his paper. As for Mateo, he just rolls his eyes at his wife, but ultimately doesn't respond because he decides to rescue Josie from an increasingly fidgety Freira, who looks very much like she wants to be released.</p><p>Once Mateo whisks his daughter away and disappears into one of the other bedrooms, Bill leans over and murmurs, "…What innuendo did I miss this time?"</p><p>He watches her face redden even more and pushes back the amusement he feels at the sight. Josie always did get like this whenever one of his siblings would mention their close relationship. The fact that she's always been so embarrassed about the possibility of them getting together has always been a source of entertainment for him – and another reason that he'd use to tell Charlie off whenever he'd tease him about how he's apparently in love with Josie. Still, despite this, he isn't quite prepared for her response.</p><p>Instead of amusement, he feels a tad bit embarrassed too, when she mumbles, "…They thought I tired you out last night because you look so sleepy."</p><p>He feels himself blush as well and clears his throat, leaning back and picking up his fork. As he starts digging into the breakfast that Zanetta had prepared, he quietly suggests, "Maybe we should set them straight."</p><p>Perhaps he feels less amused this time around because this isn't just teasing for the sake of teasing. Isidora and the rest think that they are <em>actually</em> together, for real, and that it wouldn't be out of order if Josie <em>had</em> tired him out in all the ways they are assuming. After spending the night sleeping next to her, he feels that it's only natural to be a bit embarrassed about it. He is engaged to another woman, after all, and Josie is…well, his best mate. Who had somehow gotten incredibly attractive without him realizing it. When did <em>that</em> happen, anyway? Last he checked, she was still the ungainly young girl with scrawny legs and twig arms, who'd run around Hogwarts with him and obsess over Quidditch like the rest of the lads.</p><p>She isn't that young girl any longer. He's not sure when it happened and how he's never really noticed, but Josie Devonport is very much a woman, now. Her scrawny legs are now long and tanned. Her flat chest has filled out. The spots on her cheeks have all faded, making her high cheekbones and sun-kissed skin look as if it ought to belong on the cover of one of Ginny's beauty magazines. Sure, her mess of frizzy, curly dark hair hasn't changed that much, but now it frames a face that is quite a bit more grown up than he remembers it being. Suddenly, Bill can't help but wonder how many men Josie has 'tired out' while he's been busy courting Fleur and throwing himself into Order business.</p><p>Josie sighs and grouses, "We'll be heading out soon anyway. Just bear with it for now."</p><p>Thankfully, her words pull him away from the trajectory of his thoughts, which he's grateful for because he really shouldn't be wondering how many men she's bedded. It's not as if it's any of his business. Josie can bed as many men as she likes. Right.</p><p>As she reaches for her water, she adds, "Besides, the magical community around here is a bit superstitious, what with all the Caiporas running amuck."</p><p>Bill stares at her blankly. In the background, Marco and Zanetta seem to be going back and forth about something, their voices filling the kitchen with an endless stream of Spanish.</p><p>Josie glances over at him when he doesn't respond and, seeing the blank look on his face, rolls her eyes. "The Caiporas, William. Mischievous little creatures who live in the rainforests. They're all over Peru, too. Honestly, don't you remember anything from our school days?"</p><p>He raises an eyebrow. "I don't see how that has to do with coming clean about the fact that we aren't engaged."</p><p>Looking impatient now, Josie explains, "Think of it like the old muggle sailor superstition about how it's bad luck to bring a woman on board a ship. Just trust me, it's better to let this be." Beneath her breath, she mutters, "…It's your fault anyway."</p><p>Bill doesn't really understand her analogy, but he's too tired to make a big deal about it and instead just jokes, "I think you just want to call me yours, Josie Devonport."</p><p>If he expects her to laugh at this, though, he's disappointed. Instead of laughing, an ill expression sweeps over her face and she purses her mouth, turning her attention to her food and ignoring his joke entirely. He feels a bit awkward at her response, and even a tiny bit offended that she looks so sick (is the thought really <em>that</em> unsavory?), so he just returns to his own breakfast in silence. He's glad that Zanetta and Marco are being so loud on the other side of the kitchen, because the rest of breakfast would have otherwise been incredibly awkward.</p><p>Of course, once they gather their belongings and actually head out on the expedition, things get even <em>more</em> awkward, if that's even possible. From the stilted conversation they have in their room, Bill finds out that they'll be apparating into the wilds and continuing on foot to the temple. Apparently, this is standard procedure around here because of the magical boundaries that often surround ancient South American sites. Josie refers to it as 'static', and says that it makes it impossible to apparate directly to the temple. She also tells him to make sure that he doesn't have any gold on his person, because it will interfere with the magic that radiates from the temple.</p><p>"Incan magic is volatile," Josie tells him as she deposits what looks like a small golden coin in the nightstand drawer. "It's best not to risk it, or things could get a bit haywire."</p><p>Apparently, they'll be returning to the house just before they head back to England, so it's safe to leave whatever gold they possess behind. Zanetta will look after it for them until they return. He'd like to ask why gold interferes with Incan magic when the Inca are infamous for their many golden artifacts. It seems contradictory to him, considering how much gold will probably be within the temple itself, but he doesn't get a chance to ask her because Josie is already heading back into the kitchen to say goodbye to Zanetta, Marco, and their three grandchildren, whose parents have already left for the day. He hears more rapid Spanish being fired back and forth from beyond the bedroom, but doesn't immediately follow Josie. Instead, his curiosity gets the better of him, and before he can stop himself, he opens the nightstand drawer where Josie had dropped the golden coin.</p><p>It isn't any coin that's used as currency back home. It's far too old to have been recently pressed. It looks more like an ancient coin used by one of the cultures that once inhabited this continent. Why does Josie have this? Is it merely sentimental? As he thumbs over the edge of it, he feels like he's seen it before, somewhere, but for the life of him he can't recall where. He pushes the questions from his mind for now, because he hears Josie impatiently call his name from the kitchen and he knows that he's probably holding up their departure.</p><p>"<em>There</em> you are," Josie says when he joins them, his bag thrown over his shoulder. "Come on, we should get going. Ricardo will be waiting for us." Bill doesn't even get a chance to thank Zanetta and Marco for their hospitality before Josie grabs his hand and drags him into side-long apparition. He's rightfully a bit annoyed at her for it when they reappear in a rainforest, in the middle of nowhere, without any warning whatsoever.</p><p>"That was a bit rude," he frowns at her before he looks around. He can't claim to have ever been in a rainforest before and he's a bit caught off guard at the sight that meets him. Towering trees shroud much of the sky, canopied with vines and broad leaves from above. The roots of the trees form thick grooves that occasionally peek up through the ground before they are hidden by the large, tall ferns that seem to grow everywhere. It smells like damp earth – the sort of scent that reminds you of growing things, healthy and strong – and as he turns his head, he hears cawing birds and other sounds from animals and insects that are hidden from sight. Everything is a bright and vibrant green, made all the more so by the filtered sunlight that is able to make its way through the leaves far above where they stand.</p><p>Josie throws him a look and wrangles her hand as from his with a shrugged, "This isn't a vacation, Bill. I have a schedule to keep."</p><p>He opens his mouth, but before he can respond, something incredibly baffling and very unexpected occurs, and he rather forgets what he was about to say.</p><p>Sexy Peruvians have a tendency of making anybody speechless, as he'll soon discover.</p><p>"<em>¡Querida mía!" </em>a voice from above suddenly exclaims. Before Bill is fully prepared, a man drops down from one of the trees and lands several meters away from them. Bill is still absolutely not prepared when the man approaches Josie, grabs her face with both hands, and leans in to kiss her directly on the mouth, all the while exclaiming, <em>"¡Te extrañé!"</em></p><p>"Ricardo – " Josie begins. She sounds oddly exasperated for someone who has just gotten randomly smooched by a stranger. The Josie he knows would have punched said stranger for that. Then again, it's obvious that this isn't a stranger to <em>her</em>. Based on Josie's exasperated complaint, Bill can only assume that this is the infamous Ricardo that he's been hearing about. He hadn't been expecting the man to be so…sexy.</p><p>That's really the best way to describe him. Not only is Ricardo lean, muscled, and obviously fit beneath the long khakis and button-up linen shirt he's wearing, but his smile is wide and encompassing. His dark wavy hair is perfectly tousled as it falls into his eyes, which are a mischievous shade of light brown. Ricardo looks more like a playboy than a curse-breaker. He acts more like one, too.</p><p>Bill stares in baffled silence as the man laughs loudly and pats Josie's red cheeks. "You are <em>blushing</em>. Has my absence affected you so much?"</p><p>"Ricar – "</p><p>"If you had agreed to marry me, then you wouldn't miss me," he adds, and Bill promptly begins to cough in shock. <em>What</em> did he just say?</p><p>Upon hearing the cough, the sexy Peruvian turns to look over his shoulder. When he sees Bill, his eyebrow quirks up. Perhaps Ricardo hadn't noticed him standing there when he had catapulted himself at Josie, because he seems just as surprised as Bill is (who, by the by, is still trying to process that bit about marriage).</p><p>"…Ah. Who is this?" Ricardo wonders. "Some junior curse-breaker you've been tasked to babysit?"</p><p>Josie coughs back a laugh as Bill stiffens in offense. <em>Junior curse-breaker?</em> His name is known all over Egypt for his high success rates and effective strategies. It only took him <em>three days</em> to break through one of the Pharaoh's tombs that the original team had been struggling with for months. There's nothing <em>junior</em> about him – and he most certainly doesn't need <em>babysitting</em>.</p><p>Before Josie can introduce them, Ricardo turns to Bill with appraising eyes and holds out his hand. "Ricardo Vasquez, at your service. And you?"</p><p>Bill is still gritting his teeth when he shakes Ricardo's hand (very firmly) and responds, "Bill Weasley. <em>Senior</em> curse-breaker for Gringotts."</p><p>At this, Ricardo's eyebrows raise again, but this time there's a flash of realization in his eyes. "Bill Weasley, you say?" he asks, and for some reason, shoots Josie a look that makes her blush. When Ricardo turns back to Bill, he's smirking. Vividly. "Ah. <em>The</em> Bill Weasley."</p><p>Bill frowns in confusion. He withdraws his hand and asks, "You've heard of me?"</p><p>He feels rather good about that, actually. Apparently, his name isn't just known in Egypt. However, Ricardo doesn't make any mention of Bill's curse-breaking record. Instead, he just waves a hand and vaguely replies, "I've heard about you before." Then he turns back to Josie and throws an arm around her shoulders, and Bill grits his teeth again when Ricardo reverts to Spanish.</p><p>"<em>¿Él es el tipo del que estás enamorada?" </em>Ricardo asks, sounding a touch incredulous<em>. "Parece tan… Inglés."</em></p><p>Whatever it is that Ricardo had said, it makes Josie roll her eyes and nudge his arm off her. "Bill, this is Ricardo, Ricardo, Bill. Now that that's over with, let's get going."</p><p>Ricardo laughs at her brush-off and catches Bill's eye with a smirk. "All work and no play, this one," he drawls at Bill, who is frankly a bit annoyed because Josie's <em>his</em> best mate, not Ricardo's, and he knows very well that this isn't true. Josie is <em>loads</em> of fun, when she's in the mood to be. Bill has never met anyone who can keep up with him like Josie can. They share the very same adventurous spirit and the desire to travel the world. He can't count the amount of times she had drunk him under the table…back when they still went <em>out</em> for drinks, of course. It's been a long time since their last pub crawl, come to think of it.</p><p>The two men join Josie, who is wrangling out a map from the bottom of her rucksack. As she searches for it, Ricardo wonders, "You two are friends, yes?"</p><p>Maybe it's the fact that Ricardo's voice literally sounds like sex, or that he's got an annoyingly handsome, rugged beauty – or that he's currently staring at Josie's arse as she crouches down and leans over her bag. Maybe it's because Bill has spent the last few hours pretending that him and Josie are a couple, or perhaps it's simply because he feels a strong sense of protectiveness for her and doesn't like the way Ricardo is staring. Whichever, Bill doesn't even hesitate when he blurts out, "We're engaged, actually."</p><p>He comes to regret that very quickly, because Josie immediately pauses and sends him a sharp look. Ricardo's eyebrows jerk right up into his perfectly tousled hairline.</p><p>"<em>Engaged?"</em> Ricardo repeats, and crosses his arms as he glances down at Josie. There's a slight touch of amusement in his voice when he drawls, "You didn't tell me you were engaged when we christened our way through the rainforest."</p><p>Yes. Bill regrets saying that, but only because he is now unable to turn a blind eye to the apparent fact that Ricardo and Josie are a thing. Maybe. Well in any case, they're <em>enough</em> of a thing to be christening rainforests.</p><p>Josie sighs and turns her glower to Ricardo, who looks a bit amused to be on the receiving end of it. Thankfully, her frustration seems to be counteracting her blush, because she doesn't feel her face grow any hotter.</p><p>"We're not engaged. Bill mucked everything up last night with your mum and now your entire family thinks we're together," Josie explains impatiently.</p><p>Ah yes. Ricardo is Zanetta's son. Well one of them. Gregorio is the eldest, followed by Isidora, and then Ricardo. Ricardo is the only sibling to have followed in his father's footsteps. Curse-breaking isn't for the faint of heart, and neither Isidora or Gregorio felt the calling. Anyway, as the youngest, Ricardo has always lived life on the wild side. He's a curse-breaker for the Peruvian Council of Magic, but he often works with Gringotts and other international curse-breaking institutions, so the flexibility of his job allows him to join up with Josie whenever she's on one of her expeditions.</p><p>Mention of his mum makes Ricardo cringe a little. "I'm sure my mother and Isidora were very…excited." The cringe that Josie sends back makes him chuckle. He loves his family, but he certainly doesn't miss living with them. His life in Lima is quiet and solitary; the perfect place to return to after an adventurous trip into a dangerous ancient temple.</p><p>Smirking once more, Ricardo glances at Bill and adds, "Though they surely weren't as excited as when <em>I</em> proposed, yes?"</p><p>Bill shoots Josie an incredulous look, but Josie just rolls her eyes at Ricardo and changes the subject, much to Ricardo's amusement. She points at the map and says, "I figured this would be the most direct route. What do you think?"</p><p>Bill glances down to view the map, but it's Ricardo who responds. "As long as you can still do that spell to get us across this ravine, otherwise we'll have to go this way," he points at the map, looking like he knows exactly what he's talking about.</p><p>By comparison, Bill looks a bit lost. The map isn't like any other map he's seen, with clear symbols and charted terrain. Hell, he never even uses maps when heading out to an Egyptian site, because there aren't magical boundaries surrounding them and he can just apparate directly to the entrance. He definitely feels out of his comfort zone. On top of that, Ricardo's confidence is starting to grate on his nerves already, only minutes into meeting the man.</p><p>"It's a two day walk to get around the ravine," Ricardo is saying, smoothing back his perfect hair.</p><p>Josie merely responds, "Don't worry. I can get us across. Besides, it'll save us a lot of time." She sends Ricardo a look that seems strangely loaded.</p><p>Ricardo nods as he returns the look, eyes flashing secretively as he holds out his hand for her to take. He pulls Josie back onto her feet and declares, "Let's get going, then. I know a good place to camp tonight, but we should hurry or it will be dark before we get there."</p><p>It's never good, traveling the rainforest after nightfall. That's usually when the Caipora come out to wreak havoc on unsuspecting travelers. And other creatures, for that matter. Josie would rather not have to deal with any Crazed Capybaras tonight. Those creatures are always a hassle.</p><p>Ricardo takes the lead, heading deeper into the jungle as Josie falls into step beside Bill. She turns to him and asks, "Can you feel the magical boundaries?" When he grunts out an affirmative, she explains, "They usually stretch out for several kilometers around the temple, which is why we can't apparate right to the doorstep. It's a little over a day's walk through the jungle to get there."</p><p>Bill glances over at her and sends her a smile, noticing that some of her messy hair has escaped her ponytail and is now framing her face just so. He wants to reach out and push it behind her ear, but figures that she might not appreciate it. After all, they aren't as close as they used to be.</p><p>"How will we break through the curses with this boundary in place?" he asks. It's a question that's been on his mind since Josie had first told him about them. They must have apparated just beyond the magical boundary, because he hadn't started feeling it until they began to make their way deeper into the rainforest. It's almost as if there's a pressure in the air that squeezes around them, like they are walking through thick syrup. He's never felt its like before on any of his own expeditions into Egypt.</p><p>Josie seems unconcerned with their current dilemma. "Once we get to the temple, there's a procedure we have to do that will dissolve the boundary and allow us entrance. We'll be able to use magic after that."</p><p>She doesn't extrapolate on this procedure, though it does spark his curiosity. This is definitely nothing like a trip to an Egyptian tomb, that's for sure. He's beginning to realize that it will require an entirely new skillset, and he feels rather impressed with Josie at her know-how. She seems completely confident about what lies ahead, and not at all afraid.</p><p>They fall into a comfortable silence as they walk. She means to get him up to speed on the sorts of things that he should look out for, having never been to this part of the world before, but before she can, Bill asks, "You've never mentioned Ricardo before. When did you meet?"</p><p>She blinks over at him in surprise, but Bill is staring straight ahead, focused on the back of Ricardo's tousled head. There's something strange in his voice that she's never heard before – some low sort of emotion that she can't quite identify. It couldn't be jealousy, because he's with Fleur. Over-protectiveness, perhaps?</p><p>"…I met him on my first assignment. You were in Egypt at the time," Josie responds, not entirely sure why Bill wants to know.</p><p>Bill isn't really sure either. Still, he can't help but ask, "And did he really propose to you?"</p><p>The question makes Josie laugh, much to his surprise. He finally looks over at her and raises an eyebrow, wondering why the question has caused such a reaction in her. He finds out, of course, when Josie smirks, "I wouldn't exactly call it a proposal. His exact words were, <em>'Nuestros bebés serían hermosos.'"</em></p><p>Bill's eyebrow is still raised when he asks, "…Which means?"</p><p>She snickers and translates, "'Our babies would be beautiful'."</p><p>Bill feels his cheeks redden at this, though he isn't sure if it's because of annoyance or embarrassment. He's never really thought about Josie in this sort of way, after all. Though, after a moment of consideration, he admits that she'd make a really great mum. She's always had a knack for kids.</p><p>He's about to respond to her when Ricardo calls back, "You lost the chance of a lifetime, <em>querida!"</em> as he expertly machetes his way through a thick vine, evidently having heard them.</p><p>Bill feels his cheeks redden again, but this time he's sure it's in annoyance.</p><p>"What does 'querida' mean, anyway?" he grumbles, eyeing Ricardo's back with a look of disdain.</p><p>Josie either doesn't see his expression or just doesn't care, and merely shrugs, "It means 'darling'. Ricardo and I have a…close relationship."</p><p>Bill is about to say something sarcastic about said relationship, but Josie doesn't linger at his side for long enough to hear it. She darts forward to join Ricardo at the front, and says something in Spanish to him that makes him laugh. Bill frowns. Deeply.</p><p>He's beginning to regret following Josie to Peru, if only because watching Ricardo drag her into his side and kiss her cheek is filling him with –</p><p>Well. For now, Bill doesn't know what it is. All he knows is that he doesn't like it.</p><hr/><p>He really doesn't like it. After walking for hours on end through the thick underbrush of the rainforest and watching Ricardo flirt with Josie every chance he gets, Bill is in a foul mood. Josie is a grown woman. She can step over fallen logs without Ricardo having to assist her. She doesn't need to be pulled into his side in order to avoid low-hanging vines. She certainly doesn't need her hand kissed when she accidentally scratches it against the bark of a nearby tree.</p><p>"Let me see, <em>querida,"</em> Ricardo murmurs, and stops everything just to inspect her hand to make sure she's not bleeding.</p><p>Right. There also isn't any need to call her 'darling' every other second. And for that matter, is it absolutely necessary to kiss her wrist as well, even though her scratch is on the <em>back</em> of her hand?</p><p>By the time they stop for the day, Bill is at the end of his limit, which is probably not a good sign because the expedition to this temple has only just begun. He's not sure how he's going to last the entire trip when he already wants to punch Ricardo bloody Vasquez in his perfect face. Honestly. What does Josie see in this guy? Everything he does is accompanied with flamboyant flare. His every action is practically an innuendo in the making. Even his <em>name</em> is sexy.</p><p>Ricardo. <em>Ricardo</em>.</p><p>When they reach the campsite that the bloody Peruvian had been talking about before, Bill's foul mood only worsens. Ricardo has taken to speaking Spanish throughout the day, which puts Bill at a distinct disadvantage. What's more, based on the glances Ricardo is sending him as he circles the campsite with Josie and clears the ground to make way for their sleeping bags, Bill is convinced that the Peruvian is talking about <em>him</em>.</p><p>"<em>Supongo que puedo ver por qué estás tan interesada en él. El pendiente es definitivamente tu estilo," </em>Ricardo chuckles as he sends Josie a sidelong look. He takes out his machete to chop through several tall ferns that are in his way, and heaves them into the underbrush before adding, <em>"Tal vez yo también debería dejar crecer mi cabello."</em></p><p>Josie seems to figure that talking exclusively in a language that Bill doesn't understand is incredibly rude, and just grumbles, "Shut up, Ricardo."</p><p>This makes Bill a smidgen happier, but only just, because once they all sit down around the fire Bill had prepared, Ricardo's hand goes immediately to Josie's knee. Bill watches in annoyance as Ricardo sends her a devilish smile, leans in, and murmurs, "My sleeping bag is big enough for two<em>.</em>"</p><p>Josie only sighs and pushes his hand off. Her casual reaction is honestly a little surprising to Bill, who has seen Josie slap men for less.</p><p>"<em>Un poco de celos puede que le hagan bien," </em>is all Ricardo says in return, not looking all that concerned with Josie's brush-off. He glances at Bill across the fire and smirks. "Besides," he adds in English, "isn't Bill getting married to some French girl?"</p><p>This has Bill looking up in surprise, obviously confused as to why Ricardo knows this. Had they been talking about him all day after all? He hazards a glance at Josie, who is staring resolutely into the fire. Bill turns back to Ricardo and asks, "How did you know that?"</p><p>Ricardo just shrugs and leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees as he responds, "Josie's told me all about you, English curse-breaker."</p><p>Bill feels a bolt of warmth thunder through his chest upon hearing this, until Ricardo casts a glance over at Josie and adds, "If you ask me, I think you're crazy for not sweeping her off her feet."</p><p>Josie stiffens and sends Ricardo a warning look that is entirely ignored.</p><p>"Josie is gorgeous, smart, incredible…and she's <em>great</em> in bed," he adds with a roguish smirk.</p><p>Josie promptly shoves Ricardo off of the log he's sitting on, but the damage has already been done. Well, sort of. Josie is now blushing bright red, and Bill isn't very far behind.</p><p>As if he really needed a verbal confirmation that her and Ricardo have been in bed together.</p><p>Ricardo laughs at Josie's reaction and says, <em>"Sólo estoy intentando que se dé cuenta de lo estúpido que es por dejarte ir."</em></p><p>Josie glowers over at him and snaps, <em>"Ama a otra mujer, Ricardo. Termina con el asunto."</em></p><p>Whatever it is that Josie had said to him, Ricardo holds up his hands in surrender and calms down. He reaches over to squeeze her shoulder before standing up and announcing, "I'll see what I can find for dinner, yes?" And with that, the Peruvian curse-breaker strides off and disappears. Josie, still blushing, just turns back to stare at the fire and clears her throat awkwardly.</p><p>"…I'm sorry for Ricardo's constant flirting," she mumbles after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence. Bill glances up at her as she shrugs, "It's just how he is."</p><p>It's almost as if she's making allowances for Ricardo. Bill doesn't like it. Any man who talks about a woman like that is not the sort that Bill wants to be around. His mum would've boxed his ears if he talked about a girl being great in bed. Still, he doesn't want to appear as if he's too overbearing about it. He may not like Ricardo all that much, but it's not as if he's got any say over who Josie spends her time with, especially when she's out of the country on one of her trips. He'll leave the strict and proper persona to Percy. Bill's always thought of himself as being a bit more laid-back.</p><p>So instead of getting annoyed, he just carefully says, "He seems like the kind of man that women tend to go crazy over."</p><p>The way Josie snorts out a laugh at this makes it clear that he's absolutely right. He's not sure how he feels about that, to be honest. A part of him was hoping that she'd immediately deny this.</p><p>"Yeah, well. Ricardo is difficult to say no to," she chuckles, and glances up at him for the first time since sitting down.</p><p>Their eyes meet over the fire. The shadows from the flames seem to dance across her face, and he feels that strange thing in his chest; the unknown, confusing emotion that he can't quite pinpoint. For a moment it's there, living inside of him, so powerful that it's nearly overwhelming – and then it flutters away like an errant breeze, too tempestuous to capture and too wayward to understand.</p><p>He just smiles at Josie, trying to brush the feeling off, and doesn't respond.</p><hr/><p>
  <em> <strong>Translations</strong> </em>
</p><p>"<em>Buenos días. ¿Cómo dormiste?" – Good morning. How did you sleep?</em></p><p>"<em>¡Bájame, bájame, papi!" – Down, down papa!</em></p><p>"<em>Déjame alzarla, Mateo." – Let me hold her, Mateo.</em></p><p>"<em>Está un poco berrinchuda." – She's having a bit of a tantrum.</em></p><p>"<em>¡Fuego!" – Fire!</em></p><p>"<em>Sí, su pelo está prendido fuego." – Yes, his hair is on fire.</em></p><p>"<em>A tu prometido le gusta dormir. ¿Lo dejaste cansado anoche?" – Your fiancé likes to sleep. Did you tire him out last night?</em></p><p>"<em>¡Querida mía! ¡Te extrañé!" – My darling! I missed you!</em></p><p>"<em>¿Él es el tipo del que estás enamorada? Parece tan… Inglés." – He's the one you're in love with? He looks so…English.</em></p><p>"<em>Supongo que puedo ver por qué estás tan interesada en él. El pendiente es definitivamente tu estilo. Tal vez yo también debería dejar crecer mi cabello." – I can see the reason for your interest, I suppose. The earring is definitely your style. Maybe I should grow my hair out, too.</em></p><p>"<em>Un poco de celos puede que le hagan bien." – A little jealousy might be good for him.</em></p><p>"<em>Sólo estoy intentando que se dé cuenta de lo estúpido que es por dejarte ir." – I'm just trying to make him realize how stupid he is for letting you go</em></p><p>"<em>Ama a otra mujer, Ricardo. Termina con el asunto." – He loves another woman, Ricardo. Let it go.</em></p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Never Let Ricardo Talk About Wands</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Sexual overtones incoming, please prepare yourselves and do enjoy :)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  <strong>Chapter Seven | Never Let Ricardo Talk About Wands </strong>
</p><p>Josie's dad always wanted her to follow in his footsteps. He started teaching her how to cook around her eighth birthday. Her childhood was spent being shuttled back and forth from school, home, and the restaurant. Her mum's a university professor, so whenever she had a class, she'd drop Josie off at her dad's pride and joy, 'Josephine's Diner'. To say that she hated going there would be an understatement. See, her dad has always been convinced that he'd pass the diner onto her one day. "That's why it's named after you, Josie," he'd tell her. She grew up hearing those words again and again, watching as her many cousins would come in for their shifts and tease, "Josephine's here! Ready to buss some tables, since it's <em>your</em> diner and all?"</p><p>When her Hogwarts letter arrived, Josie was ecstatic. Her parents weren't.</p><p>"But if you go off to that strange school, we'll have to put your cooking lessons on hold," her dad had complained.</p><p>"They don't even teach proper maths there!" her mum had added in horror. "How will you get into university?"</p><p>Josie was over the moon, though. All her life, she'd felt like the odd one out, capable of things that no one else seemed able to do. Whenever she'd get emotional about something, things would happen around her that she couldn't explain. Once when she was nine, one of her cousins was teasing her about the way her mum had cut her hair, and Josie had wished that she'd get all her hair chopped off in retribution. Later that day, her cousin had an accident with the food processor in the diner's kitchen and had to get her hair sheared off to her chin. She wore a headscarf for months because she hated it so much.</p><p>Anyway, though, discovering that there was a reason for those strange occurrences was more than just a relief – it was an escape. Josie never wanted to be a chef or own a diner like her dad. Hogwarts was a way out of the life that her parents had been building for her from the moment she turned eight and her dad had taken her into the kitchen to show her how to julienne carrots. Going to Hogwarts hadn't put an end to the many summer she'd spent waiting tables, though. Of course, Josie loves her mum and dad. Always has. But Hogwarts became her second home. Still, she's never forgotten any of the cooking lessons that her dad had given her over the course of her life, even though she has no intention of taking over the family restaurant.</p><p>"Mmm…it smells divine, <em>querida</em>. You've been busy this morning, I see," Ricardo's sexy morning voice drifts through the campsite. A moment later, he's sitting down beside Josie as she prepares a simple breakfast for them over the fire. The Peruvian snuggles up to her side and nuzzles his face into her shoulder with a wide yawn and a mumbled, "If only you had married me when you had the chance. I would have lived my life fat and happy."</p><p>Josie rolls her eyes at him and elbows him off of her with an amused, "If only <em>you</em> had actually proposed to me <em>properly,</em> instead of spewing that shit about babies."</p><p>Ricardo's sexy morning voice is like amber honey, sweet and melodious, but his sexy morning laugh is even more pleasant. He chuckles lowly and reaches for the container of tea that Josie had brewed before starting to cook. As he pours some of it into a small tin mug, he sighs, "Alas, even if I had proposed properly, we both know what your answer would have been." He takes a sip, sighs again, and adds, "I had to keep my track record clean, <em>querida</em>. No one has ever rejected me before."</p><p>Josie laughs. "Yes, I know, Ricardo. You're a sexy Peruvian curse-breaker. It would be unnatural for you to be rejected."</p><p>Ricardo sends her an amused smile and purrs, "I'm glad you still think I'm sexy, <em>amor. </em>Watching you yesterday, I had my doubts."</p><p>He shoots a glance towards the sleeping bag that's located several meters away, and eyes the head of red hair that's just barely visible from where they're sitting. Josie follows his eyes and stares at Bill's sleeping figure for a moment before turning her attention back to the eggs she's frying, courtesy of Zanetta filling her rucksack with more food than necessary yesterday morning. Unfortunately, Ricardo isn't quite finished with this topic yet.</p><p>"You didn't tell me that <em>Bill Weasley</em> would be joining you," he murmurs quietly, resting his elbows on his knees as he leans forward. He takes another sip of tea and sends her a side-long look, silently asking for an explanation.</p><p>Josie frowns and mutters, "I didn't know until I showed up to catch my portkey. I have no idea why he decided to follow me."</p><p>At this, Ricardo raises an eyebrow and incredulously asks, "And you didn't demand answers?"</p><p>She huffs at him. "I was a little too busy trying to figure out how we're going to handle the second part of our trip," she responds, referring to their scheduled meeting with Mauricio Moreno after they handle this temple.</p><p>Ricardo makes a <em>tsking</em> sound in the back of his throat and stands up. "We'll figure that out when we get to it, but first…" he steps around the campfire, still holding his tea, and places one booted foot on top of Bill's sleeping figure. Then, grinning roguishly over his shoulder at where Josie is sitting, he shakes Bill awake with a loud, <em>"Buenos días,</em> English curse-breaker!"</p><p>Bill sits up with a disgruntled curse and grabs his wand as if he thinks he's about to be attacked, blearily looking around in confusion at the sight he's met with. Huge ferns, towering trees, green foliage…and one snickering Peruvian who is standing over him as he casually takes a sip of tea from the tin mug.</p><p>"Ah, good, you are awake now," Ricardo drawls, and eyes Bill's mussed up hair with a raised brow<em>. </em>"Josiehas made breakfast. After we eat, we will continue our journey. I hope you like scrambled eggs."</p><p>With that, Ricard saunters back to Josie's side, wearing a satisfied grin that makes the mischief in his brown eyes even more pronounced. Bill's expression is more of a scowl, mainly because he thinks he hates that bloody Peruvian. When he looks over and sees the way Josie is holding back a laugh, he grumbles but can't quite stop the smile from capturing his mouth in response. Bloody Peruvians aside, he can grudgingly admit that there is some humor to this situation.</p><p>"Scrambled eggs?" he asks as he joins them by the fire. Josie's always been a good cook, courtesy of her father's lessons, which she would often complain about during the weeks she'd spend at the Burrow each summer. Her perspective on cooking has always been overall positive, but her dad's a bit of a taskmaster. He's met the man many times on platform 9¾. In fact, at the end of sixth year, he had even taken Bill aside to quiz him about his friendship with his daughter, which had naturally made Josie incredibly embarrassed. Bill had teased her about it for ages afterwards.</p><p>Josie glances up at him and shrugs, "Zanetta supplied us with enough food to feed a small army. Do you want some tea? This is almost done."</p><p>Bill glances at the tin mug that Ricardo is holding. The Peruvian sends him a purring smile and hands him the cannister that Josie had put together some time earlier. He takes it, though looks a bit wary at the way Ricardo is smiling at him. He finds out why once he pours himself a cup and takes the first sip. An amused smirk captures Ricardo's expression as Bill promptly makes a face. He manages to swallow it, but only with some effort. It's the most bitter substance he's ever tasted.</p><p>"Oh. I probably should've warned you – " Josie begins, looking a bit apologetic.</p><p>"What <em>is</em> this?" Bill asks, though not unkindly. Tea is bitter without added cream or sugar, but this is taking it to a new level.</p><p>Ricardo snickers and explains, "It is Heliconia extract."</p><p>Josie sends him a dry look before turning back to Bill and adding, "Ricardo drinks it religiously. I'm sure he's <em>dying</em> to tell you why."</p><p>Ricardo smirks widely and slips an arm around her shoulders as he drops his voice to sexily purr, "It is said that one sip of this tea will give you the strength to carry out all of your passions."</p><p>Bill stares at him blankly, not quite following. Some allowances must be made for the fact that he is still half asleep. Another thing to note is that Ricardo Vasquez is bloody confusing. He is also very much amused when Bill doesn't appear to understand what he's referring to.</p><p>Josie rolls her eyes. She busies herself with rooting around her bag for some forks so that she doesn't have to look at Bill's face when Ricardo drawls, "It will give you a massive – "</p><p>"It's an aphrodisiac. For fuck's sake, Ricardo," Josie interrupts, turning to spear him with a glower. "It isn't even a legitimate one either. Don't listen to him, Bill, he's an idiot."</p><p>Throughout this, Bill's eyebrows jolt up. Ricardo, on the other hand…</p><p>"I beg your pardon?" the Peruvian demands, sounding a touch offended. He dramatically puts his hand onto his chest and juts his bottom lip out into one of his sexy pouts, of which Josie has long ago worked up an immunity to. "It most certainly <em>is</em> legitimate, <em>querida</em>. Herbal medicines have been scientifically proven to – "</p><p>"Just shut up about your libido, Ricardo," she snaps, much to Bill's delight. This is more like it. The bloody Peruvian ought to be put in his place. He leans back to watch the argument, feeling a bit more awake and quite happy about the insulted look on Ricardo's face.</p><p>"I was only trying to give Weasley some tips. I'm sure he needs them, since he is an Englishman," Ricardo defends himself, which rather erases some of the amusement Bill is currently feeling.</p><p>Sitting up straighter, Bill demands, "What's <em>that</em> supposed to mean?"</p><p>His reaction seems to have been anticipated. Ricardo glances over at him with a wide smirk and, as if he was hoping that Bill would ask, responds, "I have heard that the English have trouble…mm, what is the phrase? Ah, yes – 'keeping it up'."</p><p>He grins roguishly. Bill begins to flap his mouth, looking highly ruffled.</p><p>"Would you say that this is true, <em>querida?"</em> Ricardo innocently wonders, turning to look at Josie, who has begun to dig into the breakfast she'd made in an effort to ignore them. "You have had English lovers, after all. Do they compare to me?"</p><p>Actually, Bill is rather curious to hear the answer to that. He bets that the bloody Peruvian is all talk.</p><p>"Ricardo, I swear to Merlin," Josie begins.</p><p>Ricardo smirks widely and adds, "Though I suppose that, to get a proper comparison, you would have had to make sweet love to Weasley, which has not happened because he is an idiot who has convinced himself that he has no romantic interest in you."</p><p>At this, Bill begins to splutter. His face turns a motely shade of red, which matches his hair so perfectly that it makes Ricardo burst out into laughter and exclaim, <em>"¡Mira cómo se sonroja!"</em></p><p>The flare of Spanish doesn't make Bill any less annoyed. He hasn't even known Ricardo for a full day, and he already wants to strangle him and his proclivity for using Spanish to communicate with Josie. That bloody Peruvian knows full well that Bill doesn't know what he's saying.</p><p>Josie rolls her eyes at him and mutters, "Bill and I are <em>friends,</em> Ricardo. Of course he doesn't have any romantic interest in me." She swallows tightly around the lump in her throat and shoves a forkful of scrambled eggs into her mouth. Around it, she viciously adds, "Plus he's engaged."</p><p>Bill relaxes a bit and nods. He nearly says that he has no problem 'keeping it up', but figures that the Peruvian would only become more amused if he did, so he just purses his lips and remains silent.</p><p>Ricardo, though…</p><p>"Ah yes. That reminds me. Why did you follow Josie to Peru, Weasley? Did you grow tired of warming your woman's bed?" Ricardo wonders as he takes a fork and tosses it to Bill.</p><p>There's a strange glint in his brown eyes that makes Bill frown. He's not sure he appreciates that last question all that much. After all, his decision to accompany Josie had nothing to do with Fleur. Talking about his fiancée isn't a topic that he's comfortable maneuvering around with Ricardo bloody Vasquez, who seems to have made it his personal goal to trip him up as much as possible. Bloody Peruvian.</p><p>This time, Josie doesn't try to stop Ricardo's line of questioning and just turns to look at Bill as Ricardo leans over to take a bite of breakfast, right from the pan. She nudges Ricardo out of the way and offers Bill some of the scrambled eggs before her fellow curse-breaker can eat them all, and waits to hear Bill's response. She would very much like to know the answer to Ricardo's question. Well, not the last question, that is. She definitely doesn't need to know anything about Bill warming Fleur's bed.</p><p>Bill shoots Ricardo a sharp look and helps himself to some breakfast as he says, "I don't think it's any of your business."</p><p>At this, Ricardo breezily responds, "Josie is my business. We have much history and I am very possessive of her."</p><p>Bill glances over at Josie and raises an eyebrow, but she just raises one back expectantly. So with a sigh, he says, "There's no reason. I just wanted to tag along."</p><p>Neither Josie or Ricardo look like they believe him. His response is too simple, and besides all that, Bill has never come to South America with Josie before. It's too much of a coincidence that he's chosen to do so now. Still, Josie knows Bill well enough to understand that if he doesn't want to talk, he won't. He's a Weasley, which means he's stubborn. Any attempts at forcing the issue will only make him more resolved to keep his silence.</p><p>So when Ricardo opens his mouth, Josie elbows him and says, "We should start the next leg of our journey. Since Bill wanted to <em>tag along</em> so much, I'm sure he's eager to reach the temple."</p><p>Right, well. Just because she knows he isn't going to talk doesn't mean she's going to completely go along with his feeble excuse. She shoots him a look as she stands. From the way Bill runs a hand through his hair, he likely knows that she doesn't believe him. Thankfully Ricardo doesn't argue, and merely sends Bill a sexily quirked eyebrow before standing up to collect his things.</p><p>Having never traveled through a rainforest before yesterday, Bill once more takes up the rear. Without the use of their wands, it's slow going. Ricardo has his machete out, ready to hack through whatever obstacle is in their way. He is the very image of casual nonchalance as he twists the machete with one hand and sips at the leftover tea with the other. Every once in a while, he'll offer Josie or Bill a sip, making sure to wink whenever he does. Josie's response is to shake her head in amusement; Bill's is to frown. As expected, his reaction seems to be an unending source of entertainment to Ricardo, because after a while, he stops offering the tea to Josie and turns the full brunt of his attention to Bill.</p><p>"So you work in Egypt, then?" Ricardo asks, then adds, "You don't <em>look</em> like a curse-breaker."</p><p>Bill's response to this is a gritted, "Neither do you."</p><p>Ricardo, of course, only laughs and drawls, "Ah yes. I have been told many times that I should have been a model."</p><p>Bill would like to strangle him again.</p><p>When they finally reach the temple, it's just past noon. At first, Bill doesn't see the tall, crumbling structure that rises out of the rainforest before them. The towering trees and leafy ferns impede his vision. That, and he's a bit too busy glowering at the back of Ricardo's perfectly tousled head to take much notice of anything else. After another several hours of watching the Peruvian flirt with Josie every second he can, Bill finds that he is quite annoyed again, and all he can think about is why Josie is accepting and even encouraging Ricardo's behavior. She just laughs it off as if Ricardo is harmless, but honestly, there's nothing harmless about the way the bloody Peruvian keeps eyeing her. He touches her whenever he can, helping her across logs and dramatically lifting ferns for her to walk beneath unhindered. What's worse is the way he keeps throwing amused glances at Bill, as if he knows exactly why Bill is annoyed. The bloody –</p><p>"Ah, here we are," Ricardo announces from where he's standing some meters ahead. He swings his machete around in his hand again as he leans confidently against a tree, staring off into the distance. It's only then that Bill sees the temple, and when he does…well.</p><p>Now, Bill Weasley is not some novice curse-breaker who has never done any field work. In fact, most of his career thus far has been nothing <em>but</em> field work. It was only a year ago that he transferred back to England and took a job in the Gringotts offices, and that was only because of the war. He hasn't told Josie his real reasons, of course – that he's returned to England to be closer to his family and to join the Order of the Phoenix. He doesn't want her involved in all of that. It's far too dangerous and he knows how reckless she can sometimes be. But – anyway, the point is that Bill has seen his fair share of ancient temples and knows his way around them. He's handled enough Egyptian cases where he's no longer in awe of them, but he'd be damned if he didn't say that he feels a bit of awe now. It isn't every day that one is able to walk right up to an ancient temple built by the Inca, after all.</p><p>The temple rises up from the ground in tiers which get smaller the higher they get. It's as if it has been built around the jungle itself. Pockets of sunlight shine down upon the stone despite the towering trees that surround it on all sides. More of the tall, leafy ferns grow around and up its tiers, making the temple appear as if it has been completely lost to history. There is a tall impression at the front which looks like a door, but the closer they get to it, Bill sees that it is lined shut with perfectly rectangular stones. He stares at the whole thing for a long moment, soaking it all in, before he realizes that Josie and Ricardo are already walking towards it and he picks up his pace to join them.</p><p>"I can do it," Ricardo is saying when Bill falls into step beside Josie. He glances over curiously, wondering what he had missed.</p><p>Josie shrugs, "No, I think it'd be better if I did." She sees the look on Bill's face and explains, "We have to break the magical boundary before we can enter the temple. It's a fairly standard procedure."</p><p>From Josie's other side, Ricardo wonders, "Do they not have magical boundaries around Egyptian tombs?"</p><p>The question is innocent enough, for once. Ricardo looks genuinely interested to know the answer, so Bill shrugs and responds, "No. There are some boundaries around certain rooms, but they're usually easy to dispel. Nothing like this, though."</p><p>Ricardo hums and murmurs, "Fascinating. You will have to tell me more about your work later, Weasley."</p><p>Bill is slightly surprised by this, but he doesn't comment on it. Josie does, though. She glances at Ricardo and says, "Bill is an incredible curse-breaker. I'm sure he could tell you tons of stories about Egypt." Then, with a fond smile, she playfully nudges Bill and adds, "Once you start talking, you never shut up about it."</p><p>A warm feeling captures Bill as he hears her say this. His mouth curls up into a smile that she easily returns, and for a moment, it feels as if everything is right in the world. Josie is back to being herself, their friendship is just as close as it always was, and she hasn't been acting strange around him at all. But then her smile slips slightly, and he watches as an odd emotion slivers through her eyes. She looks away abruptly and hastens her pace up the steps and away from him, adjusting her leather jacket in the way she always does whenever she's uncomfortable or stressed.</p><p>He's a bit confused about what he had done to bring that emotion to the forefront, but is too distracted by the Incan temple to linger on the thought. Josie is now standing in front of a small golden bowl, which sits atop the pedestal that rises out of the stone dais at the top of the stairs. She's currently in the process of rooting around in one of her pockets for something. The last dregs of his confusion disappear instantly when Ricardo procures what looks like a small hunting knife from his boot and twirls it around to hand it to her.</p><p>"Are you sure, <em>querida?"</em> he asks as she takes the blade. "I am happy to make the sacrifice."</p><p>And just like that, Bill's confusion returns, but it now has little to do with the strange look in Josie's eyes. No, now he's a bit more confused about why Josie is flipping the edge of the blade around and pressing it to her palm, as if she's about to –</p><p>Cut herself. She slices the blade right through the top of her palm and immediately curls her hand into a fist as she holds it over the bowl. She doesn't flinch at all, but Bill does.</p><p>The warm feeling in his chest turns cold with worry. "What are you <em>doing,</em> Josie?" he demands, stepping forward to grab her wrist. Before he can, though, Ricardo puts a hand on his shoulder and stops him.</p><p>"It is the blood sacrifice," the Peruvian informs him, raising an eyebrow at Bill's obvious confusion. If he notices the worry that clings to Bill's eyes as well, Ricardo doesn't say. Instead, he just murmurs in a lightly scolding tone, "Did Josie not explain it properly? Josie, honestly. The English curse-breaker has never been to an Incan temple before. He is a virgin."</p><p>With a grunt, Bill shoulders Ricardo's hand off of him and hotly says, "I'm not a bloody <em>virgin</em> – Josie, what is going on?"</p><p>Bill's adamant tone makes Ricardo smirk. Josie rolls her eyes at him and his colorful usage of the word 'virgin', resolves not to think too hard on Bill's denial of being said virgin, and shrugs, "It's the only way to gain entrance to the temple and dissolve the magical boundary. You should be grateful that this isn't an Aztec temple, or a few drops of blood wouldn't be enough."</p><p>Behind her, Ricardo hums in agreement and adds, "Yes, the Aztecs enjoyed human sacrifice."</p><p>Bill's mouth drops open. As he watches the blood flow down Josie's wrist and into the bowl, he incredulously repeats, <em>"Human sacrifice?"</em></p><p>Josie, seeing the concern blaze over his expression, sends him an understanding look and explains, "It's nothing like that. A few birds, some snakes – that sort of thing is usually enough to break the barriers. Luckily though, human sacrifice wasn't something the Inca considered quite as important."</p><p>Ricardo shrugs and adds, "The Aztec were a bit more…bloodthirsty in that regard."</p><p>Josie nods in agreement and stares down at the blood pooling in the bowl. "Should be about enough, don't you think?" she asks Ricardo, who steps over to her and glances at the bowl.</p><p>"Mmm…yes, I think so," he responds.</p><p>Just as Ricardo finishes speaking, the dais that they're standing on rumbles just so, and Bill snaps his head up to stare as the stone wall begins to shift out of place. The stones magically shift, loudly rotating around each other as they jolt forward and then to the side. Then a soft hissing sound can be heard – the sort of noise that could perhaps be likened to water being splashed against a burning pan. It sizzles quietly through the space, until Bill realizes that it's Josie's blood, which upon further examination, is now bubbling and evaporating out of the bowl that had once held it, vanishing into the air as the sacrifice is accepted.</p><p>As the doorway reveals itself, Bill turns back to look at Josie, glances down at the cut, and sighs, "Right. Let's bandage this before we move on."</p><p>It's all a moot point, now that he understands why they needed a blood sacrifice to enter the temple. He still doesn't like the fact that she hadn't explained it to him, though.</p><p>"I wish you would've let me do it," he says as he begins to search for bandages. Ricardo, who is being oddly silent, merely watches from a few paces away. As for Josie…</p><p>"My wand is a bit faulty anyway. It made sense that it should be me, seeing as I don't know how much help I'll be with breaking the other curses," Josie faintly responds as she studies the way the sunlight lights up his red hair. The back of her hand still tingles pleasantly from his touch, counteracting the pain from her new wound.</p><p>Bill glances up at her from where he's kneeling and purses his lips. "Still, it would've been nice to have some warning, Jos. I'm a bit new to Incan temples, if you hadn't noticed." He grimaces out a smile that has everything to do with the fact that he feels so out of his depth, and Josie smiles back hesitantly. He's definitely not accustomed to taking the backseat during an expedition. Not that Bill cares all that much when it comes to leadership, but he does like to know what to expect. Curse-breaking is a dangerous vocation, after all.</p><p>"Right. I'll…try to warn you the next time," Josie murmurs, not sure what else to say. It isn't as if she'd meant to keep him in the dark. She's just so acclimatized to the way things are done with South American temples that she had forgotten that other cultures don't do things the same way. That, and she's been actively trying to distance herself from him for months now, so it feels weird to have him so close to her all of the sudden.</p><p>Bill gestures for her to come towards him so that he can clean the cut, so Josie crouches beside him and holds out her hand. She knows well enough that arguing with him won't get her anywhere. When Bill is worried about her, he turns into a mother hen. Honestly, in some ways he's almost as bad as his mum (bless her), though she'd never tell him that.</p><p>His hands are gentle as he uncorks a vial of wound-cleaning potion, though before he pours it over her cut, he rightfully assumes, "We probably can't use magic to heal it, right?"</p><p>That's when Ricardo reminds them that he's still there. In a drawling voice, the Peruvian says, "We must wait until we are out of the temple's vicinity to heal the cut, or else the blood sacrifice will be rejected and we will be trapped inside the temple. I suppose you catch on <em>fairly</em> quickly, Weasley."</p><p>Bill shoots a glance at Ricardo, only to find that the curse-breaker is leaning casually against the pedestal with his arms crossed over his chest as he watches them. There's something in Ricardo's eyes that Bill can't quite identify – some guardedness that doesn't make sense and makes him a bit uncomfortable, so Bill just clears his throat and turns his attention back to Josie's cut. Surely, the Peruvian isn't being <em>protective</em> of her. He was the one who knew full well about the sacrifice and yet still allowed her to go through with it herself. Bloody Peruvian.</p><p>Bill pours a few drops of the potion onto the cut. This time, Josie cringes a little as they sear and bubble into her skin, cleaning out the wound and disinfecting it. He carefully begins to wrap a bit of gauze around her hand to seal the wound closed.</p><p>"I think we have some pain potion, if you want," he offers quietly as he's tying the bandage off. He glances up to look at her, only to find that she's already staring at him and probably has been for the duration of his treatment. That look is there again, flashing through her eyes. He wracks his brain, trying to figure out what emotion it is that has summoned it there, but it's gone before he can place it and Josie is already drawing her hand out of his gentle hold.</p><p>"It's fine. Doesn't hurt that much," she tells him, and stands up, busying herself with corking the wound-cleaning potion and handing it back to Bill, who deposits it into the bag without another word.</p><p>"Well now that Josie has been lovingly attended to, shall we carry on?" Ricardo wonders with a quirked eyebrow. He casts another indecipherable look at Bill before pushing off from the pedestal. After fixing the sleeves of his linen shirt, he gestures towards the dark doorway that leads into the tunnel and steps towards it, appearing eager to get started.</p><p>Bill falls into step beside Josie as she makes to follow, slinging the bag over his shoulder. He slips his wand out from the pocket of his trousers as they head into the temple. Ricardo has already retrieved his wand as well, and is casting a lumos spell to light their way. It's a good thing that he's prepared, because only a few steps in, the floor suddenly drops away into a steep set of stairs, which disappear into complete blackness and descend into the bowels of the temple.</p><p>"I assume these temples are similar to Egyptian tombs," Bill murmurs, breaking the silence that has settled among the group. "We probably won't uncover any curses until we get further in."</p><p>In the darkness, he can just barely see Josie shrug as she responds, "It depends, but yeah, usually. Best to be prepared, though."</p><p>He is in complete agreement with that. There were too many times when he had nearly tripped head-first into a network of curses during the beginning of his career, when he was yet untried and new to curse-breaking. He's since learned that being proactive and double-checking for curses before waltzing forward is imperative. Of course, the more experience you have, the more you can feel the danger ahead. The curses don't give off any actual physical characteristics, but with more practice and know-how, you tend to be able to sense them better.</p><p>"How's your hand?" Bill asks some minutes later as they make their way down the stairs. It seems to be a never-ending descent. The air grows stale and musty the further they progress, until every breath brings a subtle wave of claustrophobia with it.</p><p>"It's fine," Josie reassures. "Really, Billy, stop worrying about me."</p><p>He casts her a side-ways look and murmurs, "I miss that, you know. You calling me Billy. You never do, anymore."</p><p>It's just as well that it's so dark, because his words make Josie's smile turn somewhat strained. She bites back the inclination to say 'well, I try not to talk to you unless I absolutely have to because I'm trying to get over you', and just responds, "It's childish, is all."</p><p>Bill raises an eyebrow, looking a bit miffed. "Childish? Do you really think that?"</p><p>She shoots him a look and sighs, "It's something I called you when we were kids. We're not kids anymore."</p><p>No, they certainly aren't. Bill can't deny that, any longer. Not that he thought Josie was still a child, but he always viewed her as a sort of younger sister – like Ginny. Ungainly, youthful, someone he could joke around and be immature with, because she knows him so well that she wouldn't judge him for it. The thing is, though, that Josie is very much a woman now. He's still not sure how that happened.</p><p>When something is familiar to you, you don't take much notice of it. You know that a sky in midsummer will be blue. There will be clouds dotting the creases of it like paint upon canvas, stretching out against your periphery like reflective glass, but it is the same image every way you look, from east to west. Nothing changes, but for what the wind brings. That is his relationship with Josie. It is a midsummer sky. Except – one day he must have turned his head to look elsewhere, because it is not the same sky it used to be. Without his notice, the blue has faded to navy and the horizon is on fire with the duskiness of twilight. Someone has taken the canvas and ruptured it with pinpricks of light. The stars glimmer at him from far above, shrouded with a mystery that never used to be there, back when the sun clearly shone.</p><p>When the wind changed, had Josie noticed? She is speaking as if this ought to be common sense, and he supposes that she's right, but he feels this strange sense of panicked loss at the sudden realization of this change. The twilight is lovely, but there is something elusive about it that frightens him.</p><p>"…I guess that's true enough," Bill hears himself murmur in response, though he feels far away as he says it, as if he is searching for a trace of midsummer in the crease of her eyes. Whether or not he finds it there, he doesn't know.</p><p>They fall silent again, and this time, Bill doesn't break it. She's glad for it. Now that they have entered the temple, she needs to focus on the task ahead, and Bill definitely doesn't realize just how distracting he is to her. He doesn't realize a lot of things, but she's used to it by now.</p><p>"We're nearing the bottom," Ricardo informs them. He's only a few steps ahead, so he's undoubtedly overheard their sprinkled conversation, but he makes no comment on it as he lifts his wand higher and continues down the stairs. They have gotten gradually steeper the further down they've walked, until it gets to the point where they need to angle their bodies slightly to the side lest they miss a step and trip forward into the nothingness beyond.</p><p>Bill is accustomed to this sort of feeling. The nothingness. It took some getting used to, at first, but it's just one more sense that is honed with experience. There is a sacredness to entering one of these ancient sites, you see. In most cases, they are the first people to step foot within them for centuries. Hundreds of years of continued and complete silence has preceded their coming. Yes, there has been the odd grave robber or rogue explorer who manages to wander inside, but they often get swept up in the first string of curses and can go no further. The preserving silence of the temple beyond that point is difficult to describe to someone who has never experienced it first-hand before. It feels rather as if you are stepping into a great ocean. The sounds of the world vanish from memory and you are filled with the baffling sensation of the vastness of time and space.</p><p>It's clear enough that they have not quite reached that point, though, when they get to the bottom of the stairs some minutes later and find several skeletons scattered along a surprisingly damp corridor. Droplets of water sweat down the sides of the walls, which are narrow but tall. There's about an inch of water that has accumulated over the floor, dark and murky and stale. Several bodies of fallen explorers are lying in the water about halfway down the corridor. There is one that is somewhat removed from the rest of them, located closer to where they stand.</p><p>A red flag goes up in each of their minds. This is one of those moments when your senses blare with danger.</p><p>"<em>Lumos maxima,"</em> Bill murmurs, casting a larger ball of light to hover above their heads. It successfully spans much of the corridor in front of them and shows the way more effectively.</p><p>Ricardo goes to lean against the narrow wall, unperturbed at the fact that he's getting the sleeve of his linen shirt damp in the process, and says, "I believe we have found our first set of curses. Would you like to do the honors, English curse-breaker?" He throws Bill a glance over his shoulder and gestures to the first body, which is laying face-down in the muddy water.</p><p>Bill sets his shoulders back and steps forward, shuffling past Josie. The corridor is so narrow that he ends up putting his hand on her back as he goes, gently maneuvering her out of the way so that he can pass. The little touch is enough to make her entire back explode with shivers, but Bill doesn't seem to realize his effect on her because he's already making his way towards the body. Ricardo, though…</p><p>The Peruvian sends her a look that she ignores. He crosses his arms over his chest and turns to raise an eyebrow at Bill – also ignored, but only because Bill's back is turned towards him as he begins to weave several spells that will reveal the lingering magic in the corridor.</p><p>One can never be too careful when breaking curses. Too many things can go wrong. Waltzing forward without thought will most definitely get you killed, and not paying attention to the obvious signs around you will only hasten what will be a very painful death. The ancients were very creative with their curses, and the Inca had no qualms about protecting their temples to the best of their abilities.</p><p>The fact that there is one body separated from his fellows tells them all that there was once a curse, or a series of curses, directly where he lies. He had been a scapegoat of sorts, knowingly or not, that broke through the curses and allowed his comrades to move several paces forward, where they ended up tripping into yet another series of curses further down the hallway. The thing about these sorts of ancient sites, though, is that the magic doesn't often remain broken. It is weaved into the walls and the earth until it becomes one with the temple. Even back in Egypt, you could spend weeks going through a tomb and break down every curse you find, but weeks later, they will spring back up again as if they were never broken at all. That's why it's so important to document every curse you break during the original expedition, that way if one ever needs to return to a site, they have a clear map of everything they need to know.</p><p>It's not that out of the ordinary for secondary expeditions to arrive at that same site in the future. Gringotts invests in curse-breakers for the monetary funds they receive in return, but there are plenty of other research teams who find their way into these ancient places. Scholars of ancient runes and arithmancy, dark curses and ancient magical cultures all have their own expeditions with their own curse-breakers. Information is often shared across teams, as these sites are international curiosities.</p><p>But back to the matter at hand. When Bill waves his wand over the first dead body, none of them are surprised to see the faint glimmer of runes appear in the air, spanning from wall to wall as the magic is revealed.</p><p>Now, curses are not universal across civilizations. Every culture has their own. Bill is very accustomed to reading Egyptian hieroglyphics, but the symbols that blossom through the air before him are decidedly not Egyptian. He hadn't expected them to be, of course, but he had hoped that perhaps they'd be easier to decipher. It is said, after all, that the Inca did not have their own written language; a false truth bred within the muggle world by the Peruvian Magical Government. Incan sites are highly dangerous to the common muggle. Most of them are impossible for muggles to enter at all, given the required blood sacrifice, but some of them are intelligent enough to figure it out. The magical community in Peru goes to great lengths to keep them out, even feeding them false information at times in hopes of throwing them off course.</p><p>Josie reckons that these dead explorers were most likely muggles themselves, who had managed to figure out the blood sacrifice based on their own research, but had no knowledge of the magical curses that they ended up walking right into. As she studies the glowing runes that float across the corridor in front of them, she wonders what they were thinking when their first comrade strode confidently forward, only to walk into a mysterious and seemingly random death.</p><p>For a long moment, they all just study the runes in silence. Bill steps back a bit so that the other two can see, knowing that he won't be of much help in deciphering the actual meanings. He hopes he'll be able to help out with the magic involved in breaking the curses themselves, because otherwise he'll feel quite useless. This is precisely why curse-breakers usually enter into specific areas of study, spending their lives researching one or two cultures and becoming experts in those civilizations. Curse-breaking is an expansive and varied subject that is never exactly the same from one part of the world to the next. Each culture has its own way of keeping people out of their sacred sites.</p><p>"Mmm. Mostly drowning curses, looks like," Ricardo muses after several minutes. He glances at Josie for confirmation, mostly to make sure that she isn't seeing something that he's missed.</p><p>Bill raises an eyebrow and repeats, "Drowning curses? I've never come across anything like that before."</p><p>Josie slips past him to double check the runes. As she does, she explains, "This is a temple built to honor the rain god, Kon."</p><p>Beside her, Ricardo adds, "We'll probably see a lot of water related curses the further in we go."</p><p>Bill hums in curiosity and watches as Ricardo begins to wave his wand and disable the runes. It doesn't take him very long, as the network of curses isn't that complex. The next one is a bit more challenging, though, as they discover when they are able to move forward and reach the pile of bodies further down the corridor. This time, Ricardo takes the lead, casting a quick spell to reveal the glowing runes. As they flicker into existence, Josie crosses her arms and scans them. There are more of them this time. She sees a few of the more basic curses that are often encountered in Incan temples, and one that's slightly more complicated, which is woven into the others and will take some maneuvering to safely break.</p><p>"<em>Hiq'ipay, wañu, </em>and<em> saywa,"</em> Josie says. "Well, we know how these explorers died, in any case."</p><p>Ricardo snorts out his agreement and glances over at Bill. <em>"Hiq'ipay</em> is the Quechua word for suffocate."</p><p>Josie breezily hums, "Death by strangulation. A lovely way to go. Shall we?"</p><p>Ricardo nods in affirmation and the two raise their wands. Before they can begin to tackle the curses, though, Bill quickly steps forward to grab Josie's wrist and pull her wand down with a worried, "What if your magic acts up again? Use mine." He wrangles her wand out of her hand and replaces it with his before she can argue.</p><p>Ricardo pauses to look over at them with a raised eyebrow. Evidently, he hadn't heard about Josie's fractured wand, because he looks confused. "What is Weasley speaking of, <em>querida?"</em> he asks, lowering his own wand slightly as he turns to catch her eye.</p><p>Josie runs a hand through her hair and grudgingly explains, "…I need to have my wand checked. It's…fractured."</p><p>Yes, she <em>knows</em> she should've done it before she came to this temple. It's dangerous to go waltzing through an ancient site with a wand that doesn't always work properly. Ricardo is obviously in full agreement with this because he turns on her with furrowed brows, his usually easygoing expression turning a shade sterner. Ah, great. She's woken the side of him that's slightly less agreeable.</p><p>"<em>No mencionaste esto," </em>he says, reverting to Spanish. He tends to do that whenever he's stressed – or trying to annoy Bill, of course, but this isn't one of those moments. With fierce eyes, Ricardo asks, <em>"¿Quieres que te maten?"</em></p><p>Josie just scowls and mumbles, "No, I don't have a <em>death wish.</em> I just don't have the funds to repair it, so I've been making do."</p><p>Bill purses his mouth when he hears this and can't help but mutter, "If you'd just moved into my spare room…" Though, when Josie's spears him a sharp look, he falls silent and doesn't say any more.</p><p>He understands not having the money. His family has been 'making do' for forever. With seven siblings, hand-me-down wands weren't the only thing that were passed from brother to brother. Clothes, textbooks, hell, even Percy's pet rat, Scabbers, was given to Ron when he started his first year at Hogwarts (an obvious mistake, in hindsight). Since moving out and supporting himself, it's almost been strange to have all the extra money he does these days. He uses much of it to help support his family, slipping some funds to his siblings at the start of each school year without his parents' knowing. He knows his mum would tell him to save his money for his future and to let her and his dad handle the rest, but he likes helping out where he can. He wishes Josie would let him help support her, too. She's part of his family whether she knows it or not. Always has been.</p><p>Ricardo casts a glance over at Bill and repeats, "Spare room?" Then he shifts his fierce eyes back to Josie and says, <em>"Hay muchas cosas que no me has contado."</em></p><p>Josie ignores that last bit and just sighs, "Can we go back to breaking these curses? We don't have all day." Then, raising Bill's wand in her hand, she begins to unravel the network of runes, twisting the wand into a complicated dance that, thankfully, is successful. Bill is probably right about her not using her own wand. A misstep with one of these runes could mean her death.</p><p>It feels strange in her hand, though. The handle isn't as thin as she's used to, and it's slightly longer than her own: 10 and ¾, fir wood with a core of unicorn. Very rigid and unbending. When she first got it at the tender age of eleven, Ollivander had told her that it's because she's stubborn. Upon hearing it, her dad had stopped ogling the many shelves of wand boxes and had laughed aloud, wholeheartedly agreeing. Anyway, Bill's wand is a lot more flexible. It'll take some getting used to, but at least she doesn't muck anything up.</p><p>Ricardo must be waiting for her to finish, not wanting to risk disrupting her concentration, because it's only when the glowing runes vanish and the way forward is clear that he reverts back to his usual flirtatious self.</p><p>"Well it looks like the English curse-breaker's wand is in working order after all," he smirks, his voice full of innuendo. He sends a leering grin at Bill's reddening face and snickers, "If you grow tired of his wand, <em>querida,</em> you can always hold mine. It's quite firm. <em>M</em><em>uy difícil."</em></p><p>Josie is quite accustomed to Ricardo's constant string of sexual overtones by now, but even this one makes her blush slightly. It undoubtedly has to do with the fact that Bill has been brought into it once again. She throws a pointed glower at Ricardo and hastily hands Bill's wand back, thankful for the darkness. She hopes her blush isn't too evident.</p><p>By now, Bill has gotten over his initial embarrassment at Ricardo's innuendo and just says, "Keep it, Josie." He casts a glance at Ricardo and adds, "I'm sure it's more <em>resilient</em> than his anyway."</p><p>Ricardo lets out an amused laugh at his comeback and purrs, "I am unsure of this. Yours looks a bit thin, which makes me question its…performance." His grin is absolutely devilish.</p><p>Bill glowers and hotly responds, "I can assure you that my wand is very efficient – "</p><p>"Would you both stop it with the sexual innuendos?" Josie demands, clutching Bill's wand tightly as her arm drops to her side. Honestly. <em>Men.</em></p><p>Unfortunately, her words go unheeded. This is because Bill has unknowingly done the one thing that a person ought never do, when dealing with Ricardo Vasquez: get into an innuendo war. Unleashing innuendos is one of Ricardo's favorite past times, of which he is very talented. He's got a wickedly fast tongue, something that Josie can most certainly attest to in several varied ways.</p><p>Ricardo is quick to use her knowledge of said tongue to good use when he lowly drawls, "Josie is already quite accustomed to my wand, though. One should always take into account previous experience, would you not agree?"</p><p>Josie's face absolutely explodes with a blush. Bill's is admittedly not far behind, but he's absolutely not going to let the bloody Peruvian get the better of him despite this wayward and conflicting piece of information. The mental image that flickers through his head upon Ricardo's words is very unwanted and he frowns deeply at the thought of them being together so intimately.</p><p>"Josie's handled my wand plenty of times over the years," he growls in annoyance, his blue eyes narrowed with challenge.</p><p>Josie lets out a low, frustrated groan and rubs her forehead as Ricardo snorts loudly.</p><p>"She may have used your wand before, but the type of magic she's cast with it is not the magic I'm referring to," Ricardo says boastfully, crossing his arms over his chest. "She has ejected many enchantments from <em>my</em> wand."</p><p>Josie grumbles and begins walking away unnoticed.</p><p>"Your wand is what, 9 inches?" Bill scoffs.</p><p>"Size hardly matters," Ricardo shrugs.</p><p>"That's what men with tiny wands say to make them feel better," Bill fires back.</p><p>"It all comes down to the skill in which you weave your spells," Ricardo casually returns.</p><p>Bill opens his mouth to growl out another comeback when Josie calls back, "Are you two finished yet? I've found another string of curses up here!"</p><p>Ricardo and Bill at last turn to see that Josie is indeed gone, and has been for some minutes now. Both of their eyebrows raise in surprise at this, as neither of them had seen her walk away.</p><p>Ricardo's mouth curls up. He pats Bill on the shoulder in a patronizing way before calling back, "The English curse-breaker has finished first, <em>querida,</em> as expected!" And with that he throws Bill another devilish smirk and prances away to join Josie up ahead, leaving Bill with a firm scowl etched over his mouth.</p><p>That <em>bloody</em> Peruvian.</p><p>"Never doubt a Peruvian's longevity, <em>querida,"</em> Ricardo is saying when Bill paces forward.</p><p>"Just shut up, Ricardo," is Josie's only response.</p><hr/><p>
  <em> <strong>Translations:</strong> </em>
</p><p>"<em>¡Mira cómo se sonroja!" – Look at how he blushes!</em></p><p>"<em>No mencionaste esto. ¿Quieres que te maten?"</em> <em>– You didn't mention this. Do you have a death wish?</em></p><p>"<em>Hay muchas cosas que no me has contado."</em> <em>– There's a lot you haven't told me.</em></p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Never Bring up Ix Chel Around Bill</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This chapter is both educational as well as full of innuendos, which in my opinion makes for a surprisingly good combination of things that you wouldn't expect to find in one story. Please enjoy another round of Ricardo trying to embarrass Bill in front of Josie!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  <strong>Chapter Eight | Never Bring up Ix Chel Around Bill (he doesn't need to know everything)</strong>
</p><p>Bill has to admit that it feels good to be breaking curses in the field again. Well, sort of. He isn't actually the one breaking these curses because he isn't familiar with them, but it still feels good to be doing something other than sitting in his office at Gringotts all day, going over paperwork. He's missed this. He could do without a few things, though, if he's being honest.</p><p>The first is his feeling of general inexperience when dealing with this Incan temple. He doesn't like feeling so underprepared and isn't used to hanging back while others handle the more complicated curses. The few curses he has been able to dismantle himself were the more basic ones that often exist in all cultures, such as your standard death and restriction curses. Still, since the runic symbols are all in Quechua, the ancient Incan language, he has to be informed when said curses are uncovered. This makes him feel as if he's a junior curse-breaker again, only allowed to break the curses because his superiors don't yet trust him to deal with the more sophisticated ones.</p><p>The other thing he could do without is Ricardo bloody Vasquez.</p><p>"I always forget how sexy you are when you are breaking a curse, <em>querida,"</em> he purrs, watching Josie wave her borrowed wand at another set of glowing blue runes. Bill throws the Peruvian an annoyed glance that goes entirely unheeded, because his eyes are planted firmly on Josie's arse as she shifts her weight onto one leg and pauses to consider her next move.</p><p>"So you like to remind me," is Josie's breezy response. She doesn't sound at all concerned with Ricardo's constant flirtations, which is another thing that Bill could do without. Seriously, does she not feel the Peruvian's stare burning a hole through the seat of her jeans?</p><p>"I do not think your English curse-breaker much likes me calling you sexy, though," Ricardo adds, not even glancing over at Bill, who is a little startled to be called out on in such a casual, blithe manner. Damned Peruvian.</p><p>Josie shrugs and says, "That's because Bill is a respectable gentleman, Ricardo, and you're a scoundrel."</p><p>Bill smiles proudly at her response and crosses his arms, glancing over at the Peruvian with a smug expression. It fades, of course, when Ricardo smiles easily and purrs back, "It is a good thing you like scoundrels, then, <em>querida,</em> or I might have some competition." If that isn't enough, he goes on to add, "I remember vividly when you screamed this scoundrel's name eight times in a single night on that expedition through the Amazon." He finally looks away from Josie's arse to send Bill a pompous grin.</p><p>Bill grits his teeth and snaps, "Josie, would you tell this twat to shut up about his sexual conquests?"</p><p>Ricardo puts a hand on his chest in mock offense and responds, "A gentleman wouldn't ask a lady to fight his battles for him, Weasley."</p><p>Up ahead, Josie rolls her eyes and drawls, "Ricardo, shut up. And Bill, I am not a sexual conquest." She looks over her shoulder to throw him a pointed glower.</p><p>Bill promptly splutters, "I didn't mean to – that's not – ", only to get interrupted by Ricardo's loud laughter.</p><p>"Besides, I do not have <em>sexual conquests,"</em> Ricardo says through his laughter. "My partners <em>beg</em> for me to take them because I do not have trouble 'keeping it up', as you do."</p><p>Bill glares at him and hotly responds, <em>"I</em> <em>don't have trouble – "</em></p><p>"I swear to Merlin, you two, if you don't keep quiet then I'm going to botch this up," Josie snaps at them, raising Bill's wand again so as to dismantle another curse. She's almost finished with this series and then they can move forward again, but her concentration is definitely beginning to flag. Thankfully, Ricardo and Bill fall silent for long enough to break through the last of it, though she's sure that they'll be at it again soon. The pair of them definitely don't see eye to eye, not that she's surprised.</p><p>Upon first glance, Ricardo doesn't seem like the most trustworthy man alive. Josie hadn't thought so either, when she had first met him. His <em>is</em> occasionally a scoundrel, and he's very unapologetic about it, but beyond this part of his nature, Ricardo has much more depth than he lets on. She's trusted him with many of her secrets – including the one about her being in love with Bill. This is undoubtedly why he's trying so hard to get onto Bill's nerves. Ricardo is extremely loyal once he decides that you are someone who deserves it, and he's long ago decided that Josie is one of those people. He protects his own.</p><p>She's not entirely sure what he's trying to prove by riling Bill up so much, though. If he's trying to make him jealous or something, then he's wasting his time. Bill is with Fleur and he doesn't see Josie as someone to be jealous over, at least not in the romantic sense. Whatever game Ricardo is playing, he's keeping his cards to himself and not informing her of the rules.</p><p>"Ah, well done, <em>querida.</em> How are you liking Weasley's wand, hmm? Is the magic growing flaccid yet?"</p><p>"<em>You bloody tosser – "</em></p><p>"Bill's wand is fine, Ricardo. In fact, I think it might be a bit stronger than yours, even," Josie cuts in, throwing a raised eyebrow at Ricardo as if to challenge him into silence. She's long ago discovered that it's difficult to stop Ricardo Vasquez without using his tactics against him, only she's been putting off taking this route because it's a fine line to walk, really.</p><p>Bill blushes a very bright red. Ricardo looks wonderfully insulted.</p><p>"Stronger than mine?" he repeats, sounding quite shaken at the thought. "But <em>querida,</em> I cannot be bested by an Englishman – "</p><p>"Maybe you should both try holding <em>each other's</em> wands so that you can come to a final decision about which is better," Josie challenges. Both men look equally horrified. She raises an eyebrow at their mirrored expressions and smirks, "That's what I thought. Now<em> I</em> am going to keep going. If you decide to take my advice, I'll be up ahead."</p><p>Bill glowers over at Ricardo and shoulders his way past him. As for Ricardo, he pouts and bemoans, "To be compared to an Englishman…ah, this is a grievous day indeed…"</p><p>Josie's words do one thing, at least: hasten Ricardo and Bill into following her. They obviously don't want to give her the impression that they've decided to take her advice by lingering and ultimately getting into another drawn-out argument, so they are practically on her heels as she walks forward. The good thing about this is that Josie now has ammunition to use against them whenever they annoy her. The bad thing is that her personal space is now being infringed upon by Bill, who is hovering close to her as they enter a large room.</p><p>Before now, they have been making their way through many narrow corridors. The fact that this is the first actual room that they've seen is a good sign that they're finally getting to the more complicated curses. Such as the one that had cursed Josie on her previous expedition into Peru.</p><p>The way forward looks clear and none of her senses are warning her of danger, so Josie begins to step through the threshold and into the room. Before she can, though, Bill suddenly loops his arm around her waist and heaves her backward, dragging her into him and effectively stopping her from moving. The action is so sudden and unexpected that Josie is a bit more distracted with the way he's holding her than the danger that he obviously feels. It's difficult to straighten out her thoughts when his hand is searing against her lower stomach, fingers curled just so around her hip as his arm lays flat against her.</p><p>When she turns to look up at him, his eyes are staring straight ahead, expression falling into concentration as he studies the way forward. Josie drags her eyes from his frustratingly handsome face and turns back to study the threshold too, then lifts his wand into the air to double check for curses. Her heart thuds a bit in her chest when a rune does indeed appear, flickering faintly into existence directly in front of her. Bill's expertise has evidently just saved her from walking head-first into a particularly ruthless curse that would have had a similar effect to being garroted. <em>That</em> would be a painful way to go.</p><p>"Merlin, Bill," Josie breathes as she stares at the single Quechua rune. "I reckon you just saved my life."</p><p>At this, Bill looks down at her and frowns, "What rune is it? I'm not good with these Incan symbols."</p><p>Some of them have become a bit more familiar to him over the last few hours – namely the basic ones that Josie and Ricardo have given him leave to dismantle. He's a quick learner and catches on pretty quickly, but he doesn't think he's seen this symbol yet.</p><p>Ricardo shuffles up behind them to peer at the rune and darkly mutters, <em>"Kuchuy</em>. A rune of slicing. Usually the neck."</p><p>Upon hearing this, Bill instinctively tightens his hold of Josie and purses his mouth.</p><p>Ricardo slips around their figures to deal with the rune himself. "Let me, <em>querida,"</em> he says, though his tone isn't lilting with the usual flirtatious extravagance. The slight worry in the Peruvian's voice gives Bill the distinct impression that this curse is a particularly difficult one to dismantle. He shuffles back, drawing Josie away to give Ricardo a bit more space, and slowly unweaves his arm from around her.</p><p>As Ricardo murmurs to himself, casting various spells to unravel the curse, Josie turns to Bill and quietly explains, "It's a newer addition to these temples, worked into the curses for the specific purpose of keeping the Conquistadors out of them." Then, seeing the confusion in Bill's eyes, she draws him further back so as not to disrupt Ricardo's concentration and murmurs, "Cortés had only just invaded the Aztec empire. When Francisco Pizarro heard of the riches that Cortés discovered, he was eager to do the same. So he sailed down the coast of Peru, where he had heard accounts of a great and wealthy empire that was even more powerful than the Aztecs. The Inca had only just ended a five year civil war and the new Inca ruler, Atahualpa, was passing through Cajamarca on his way to Cuzco to claim his brother's throne. When Atahualpa heard that Pizarro wanted to meet with him, he accepted. He was marching through his new empire with several thousand warriors, and Pizarro only had as many as could fit on his ship."</p><p>Bill stares at her as she speaks, leaning against the wall and listening to her weave the tale. It seems almost otherworldly to him. Perhaps it is merely the quiet tones of her voice as she gives Ricardo the concentration that he needs, but Bill reckons it has more to do with her eyes. They flicker into his with an intensity that he feels innately drawn to, so much so that he has trouble looking away.</p><p>"Atahualpa met with Pizarro in one of Cajamarca's plazas, with several thousand of his men. It was a strategic meeting place for Pizarro, who knew that his numbers didn't stand a chance against Atahualpa's army. He stationed artillery in the buildings surrounding the square and sent a priest to speak with Atahualpa in hopes that the Inca would convert to Christianity. Atahualpa, though, tossed away the bible that the priest gave him, not understanding the request that was being made. So Pizarro ordered his men to attack. They killed thousands of Inca warriors and took Atahualpa hostage to use him as a means of taking over the entire empire."</p><p>Bill finds himself leaning forward as she speaks, curious to hear more. He's never heard her talk this way before, about something she's so passionate about. It's strangely mesmerizing.</p><p>"And? What happened?" he wonders, holding the intensity of her gaze with his own.</p><p>Josie shrugs and murmurs, "Atahualpa knew that the Spanish wanted gold. He offered to fill a room with it if they agreed to release him. Pizarro accepted, but he had no intention of actually letting Atahualpa go. The Inca delivered on their promise, though, moving the wealth of their kingdom to Cajamarca in hopes of gaining back their king. But Pizarro went back on his word. Once he had his gold, he accused Atahualpa of conspiring against him and condemned him to death. He gave Atahualpa two choices: to be burned to death at the stake or to die by strangulation, if he agreed to convert to Christianity."</p><p>Bill grimaces and mutters, "Very generous of him."</p><p>Josie hums in agreement. "The Inca practiced their own version of mummification, like the Egyptians. They believed that if they weren't properly mummified, their souls would be lost."</p><p>"So he chose strangulation," Bill surmises.</p><p>She nods. "He was garroted to death in the same plaza where he was first captured, only months before."</p><p>Bill glances up at the rune that Ricardo is still working out and purses his lips in thought. "…So this rune is a form of retribution, then? The Incas' way of gaining justice?"</p><p>"Yes. Before the Conquistadors were able to fully take over their empire, the Inca sent their shaman into the temples to add these curses. It was their final way of preserving their holy sites from Pizarro's greed," she murmurs, trailing off as she thinks about just how effective the Inca curses had been. She reaches up to rub at her heart, imagining all too clearly the darkened veins beneath her skin.</p><p>Bill glances over at Ricardo again as he concludes, "It's a tough curse to break through, then."</p><p>Already, it's been several minutes since Ricardo had begun to weave his way through the curse, and it still remains unbroken. Not that this is necessarily strange, but the fact that it's only one single rune just proves how challenging it is if it's taking him this long.</p><p>"I had a close call with one of those curses a few years back," Josie admits to him as she leans against the wall and glances over at Ricardo as well. "Whenever we come across one, he always insists on being the one to handle it."</p><p>At this, Bill mutters, "He should give you a chance to prove yourself." When Josie turns to look at him with a raised eyebrow, he frowns, "What?"</p><p>She sighs at him. "Ricardo's a good guy, Bill. I know he can come across a bit…"</p><p>"Vulgar?" he supplies, glowering over at the Peruvian.</p><p>She rolls her eyes and insists, "Yes, I suppose, but he's a good man underneath all that."</p><p>At her insistence, though, Bill only frowns deeper and mutters, "I don't like the way he acts around you. He treats you like you're his plaything or something."</p><p>For some reason, this seems to amuse Josie. Her mouth quirks up as a humored look slivers through her eyes, and Bill's frown deepens even more.</p><p>"Josie, I'm being serious. You've got no idea what goes through a man's mind when they see a woman like you," he informs her pointedly, trying to make her understand. Her amusement, though, only seems to grow in the face of his warning.</p><p>She laughs and murmurs, "I'm well aware, Bill."</p><p>His brows pull down into a furrow and he turns to face her fully. "I don't think you are, actually. You're beautiful, Jos. Really. You're – "</p><p>"I'm a woman who's been with enough men to know how their minds work," she cuts in firmly, starting to grow tired of this conversation. As if she needs Bill to tell her that she's beautiful. It only makes her heart tremble that much more, knowing that he's only being protective of her because he sees her as a friend. Her adamant words work, though, because Bill falls silent. There's a look in his eye that almost seems displeased, as if he doesn't want to hear how many men she's been with. Well tough. He can't just go around calling her beautiful without there being consequences. She doesn't appreciate his wayward protection. It's seems apparent to her that he must think she's some naïve child.</p><p>Pressing back yet another wave of pain, Josie adjusts her leather jacket and turns to stare at the back of Riardo's head as he works out the last few parts of the curse. In a stiff voice, she scoffs, "I know you've never seen me as a woman, Bill, but there are plenty of men who do. I'm not a kid anymore and I don't need you to shelter me from the likes of Ricardo Vasquez."</p><p>With that, she pushes off of the wall and steps over to said Peruvian, who is just finishing up with the curse. Bill stares after her with surprised eyes, not sure what had summoned her impatience. He'd only been trying to look out for her. He doesn't trust that bloody curse-breaker any further than he could throw him. And besides all that, who said he never saw her as a woman?</p><p>He's always been very much aware that she's a girl. She never used to be so well-endowed and he definitely doesn't remember her having such nice legs, but that doesn't mean he grew up thinking of her as if she was just one of the lads. Not entirely, anyway. He frowns at this revelation and finds his eyes drop down her figure as she stands beside Ricardo with her hands on her hips. It's true that she grew into herself without him noticing, but honestly, she's wrong if she really believes that he doesn't see her as a woman, especially now.</p><p>He meant what he said. Josie Devonport really is beautiful. Her thick, curly dark hair is almost always a frazzled mess, but he rather thinks that it adds to her appeal. Her dark eyes seem bottomless. She's got a smile that lights up entire rooms.</p><p>"Are you coming, English curse-breaker?" Ricardo drawls, and suddenly Bill realizes that Josie is already on her way into the larger room, and he's lagging behind, lost in thoughts that are definitely better left alone. Josie's his best friend and he shouldn't be thinking about how attractive she is.</p><p>"Right," he mutters to himself, and pushes off of the wall to join the others. Ricardo watches him carefully as he passes through the threshold, his eyes strangely hooded. It makes Bill a little uncomfortable, so he hurries to catch up with Josie, who doesn't spare him a glance when he does. She's probably still annoyed at their conversation, so he gives her a bit of space, knowing that she'll brush it away soon enough.</p><p>Josie's not very good at holding grudges. Her anger comes and goes too quickly for all that. She is like a clap of thunder that crackles through the sky with fierce intensity but is gone a moment later. He's always appreciated that part about her, actually. Whenever she'd get angry at him, she wouldn't stew in it and make him guess at all the reasons why she's mad; she'd just unleash it quickly and efficiently and accept his apology (or the resulting argument) before moving on, as if the whole thing never happened at all. Yes, a thunderclap.</p><p>"Did you enjoy your history lesson?" Ricardo wonders as he strides into the room after him. He raises an eyebrow at Bill that looks strangely unknowing, and smirks, "Josiehas a golden tongue, does she not? It is a shame you've never felt the full effects of it, as I have."</p><p>This time, his voice is low enough so that Josie doesn't hear. She's standing on the other end of the room in front of what looks like a wall of glyphs, rooting through her bag for something. Any mention of 'golden tongues' goes completely unnoticed by her.</p><p>Bill clenches his jaw and, in an equally low voice, mutters, "Would you stop trying to make me jealous? Josie and I are best friends."</p><p>Honestly. He didn't expect that he'd have to convince yet another person of this truth. He thought his family were the only people crazy enough to think that there's something more to his relationship with Josie, but apparently not. It's very tiring, having to repeat the same thing over and over again for years.</p><p>He's not sure if he's surprised that Ricardo seems unconvinced, but it still irks him when the Peruvian sends him a doubtful look and sighs, "I am not trying to make you jealous. I am trying to make you <em>see." </em>At Bill's confused expression, Ricardo just sighs again and mutters, <em>"Los Ingleses son unos ciegos huevones," </em>as he walks away and joins Josie by the wall of glyphs. Bill merely pushes away the perplexing words and follows.</p><p>Making him <em>see?</em> See <em>what,</em> exactly? Bloody Peruvian.</p><p>"This is a <em>Sanancha Pirqa,</em> Weasley," Ricardo drawls at him when he steps within hearing distance. "I don't suppose you have anything like it in your Inferi-infested tombs?"</p><p>At the question, Bill shoots him an impatient look and drawls back, "We have plenty of glyph-walls, if that's what you're talking about. You've got to solve the riddle before you can proceed."</p><p>Ricardo nudges Josie and says, "Ah, I suppose he is not a <em>complete</em> idiot, <em>querida."</em></p><p>Josie merely mutters, "I'm trying to concentrate, Ricardo," and flips a few pages of the journal that Bill only now sees her holding.</p><p>It's a small thing, just barely large enough to fit into the small flap at the front of her rucksack. She's holding one of those muggle writing implements that she always used to have on hand back in Hogwarts during her first year, until McGonagall had finally told her to use proper wizarding materials to write her essays otherwise she'd start docking points. Josie hadn't been very fond of quills back then. Bill remembers thinking how strange it was that she'd never used one before starting at Hogwarts.</p><p>Ricardo doesn't seem to mind the brush-off and merely hums as he studies the glyphs. Bill does the same, though he isn't entirely sure what he's looking for. These glyphs are all in Quechua as well. Definitely not the standard Egyptian hieroglyphics that he's used to deciphering.</p><p>Quechua, he's discovered, is very confusing. The same could be said for hieroglyphs, he supposes, as he stares at the strange jumble of dots and slashes that mark the wall in front of him, but at least there appears to be more rhyme and reason to the Egyptian pictographs. The symbols of the ancient Inca are much more utilitarian and seem to require a lot of memorization.</p><p>"Here is the rune for 'secret'," Ricardo announces, gesturing to a glyph that has three downward strokes connected together by a line at the top. "Let's see…the rune for one, obviously. One secret. One secret…"</p><p>"Shared," Josie inputs, eyeing the symbol that Ricardo seems to be stuck on. She bites her lip and says, "One secret shared."</p><p>Ricardo sighs and mutters, "Wonderful. I dislike these kinds of <em>Sanancha Pirqas. </em>Why could it not just be a riddle?"</p><p>Bill raises an eyebrow. "Is it <em>not</em> a riddle?"</p><p>The Peruvian pouts over at him and responds, "No. It will require another sacrifice. One of us has to share a secret in order to pass. Among other things, though we do not yet know what they are."</p><p>Bill's eyebrow raises further. He's never encountered anything like this on one of his own expeditions into Egypt. When he points this out, Josie murmurs, "Many ancient cultures believed that sacrifice was a way to become closer to their gods, and since this is a Pantheonic temple dedicated to Kon…well, we should have expected it, really."</p><p>Ricardo hums in agreement, then sends Josie a sideways glance and purrs, "Do you remember that Mayan temple we once traveled through, <em>querida?</em> The one honoring Ix Chel? I quite enjoyed <em>that</em> particular sacrifice."</p><p>For some reason, Josie's face grows a touch redder at his question and she clears her throat in what seems to be discomfort. She casts a glance at Bill and then sends Ricardo a sharp look. Bill looks between them, wondering what he's missing this time. Though from the glint in Ricardo's eyes and the blush on Josie's cheeks, he isn't sure he wants to know. Not that it matters, because Ricardo obviously tells him anyway. The bloody Peruvian just can't help himself.</p><p>"Ix Chel was the Mayan fertility goddess," is all he says, smiling smugly at Bill, who, after hearing the word 'fertility', realizes <em>just how much</em> he didn't want to know, thank you.</p><p>He really does try to keep the mental image out of his head, but as he had only just told Josie minutes before, a woman like her can drive a man mad. Before he can stop himself, he's picturing her and Ricardo going at it in front of one of these glyph walls and a wave of annoyance fills him at the thought of her being with someone like <em>Ricardo Vasquez</em>. Her, letting Ricardo touch her. Letting Ricardo kiss her. Letting Ricardo pin her down and –</p><p>"Are you imagining me naked, English curse-breaker?" Ricardo purrs into Bill's ear, and breaks into loud laughter when Bill jumps and lets out a string of expletives upon realizing how close Ricardo is to him.</p><p>In an annoyed voice, Bill demands,"Why would I imagine you naked you bloody – "</p><p>"Ah. If you weren't imagining <em>me</em> naked, then I suppose…" Ricardo trails off, eyeing Josie with a smirk. Then he leans over and whispers, "I cannot blame you. She is a fine work of art, especially when she has been captured by the throes of passion…" he trails off and smirks at Bill.</p><p>"Would you <em>both</em> stop imagining me naked?" Josie dryly wonders as she flips a page of her journal and reads through her notes. Bill's cheeks flush red with embarrassment. Ricardo, naturally, just laughs.</p><p>"<em>Querida,</em> you ask too much. I am never <em>not</em> imagining such things," he flamboyantly informs her, which makes Bill scowl over at him for what feels like the hundredth time that day.</p><p>Josie rolls her eyes and is about to respond when she sees a familiar glyph in her notes and raises the journal to compare it with the one on the wall. A quick inspection tells her that it is indeed the same. As she snaps the journal closed, she hums, "I think I've got it."</p><p>Ricardo finally remembers how to be serious again and nods, "Wonderful. What is our sacrifice to be, then? I hope it will be as satisfying as Ix Chel's."</p><p>Right, well, he <em>almost</em> remembers how to be serious.</p><p>Josie ignores that last bit and merely points towards the beginning of the inscription. She recites, "To enter here, one secret shared, two hurts released, three treasures lost." She pauses, sighs, and then says, "It looks like we'll have to decide who wants to spill their guts first. Any takers?"</p><p>Before Ricardo can respond, Bill frowns and says, "Wait a minute, how does this work, exactly?"</p><p>After all, he's never encountered this sort of glyph wall before. They have them in Egyptian tombs, of course, but they are all merely riddles that have to be answered before you can proceed further into the tomb. Magically writing the answer out in hieroglyphs usually does the trick and the wall will open for you, but he isn't sure how it's going to work this time around.</p><p>Ricardo sounds a bit like a placating parent when he slowly explains, "It is simple, English curse-breaker. One of us reveals a secret. Two of us reveals a hurt. Three of us gives up something precious."</p><p>Bill scowls at him and his overly simplistic response. "Yes I know, I do have ears. I'm asking how the magic will know when the sacrifices are made."</p><p>This time, it's Josie who responds. Thankfully, she takes his question more seriously than Ricardo does and explains, "Magic is…alive, in a way, especially Incan magic. It's hard to describe. It will just know."</p><p>Magic is a living force of nature. It is an element that can be channeled into specific purposes. All kinds of magic, no matter its source, has this characteristic. Inca magic even more so, because it did not go through the same stringent evolutions that the Romans employed in their quest for perfection. This magic is much more primitive in that it has been left mostly untampered by its wielders. Unlike the strict Latin that much of the English world uses to draw forth spells, the Inca cast their magic from emotions and feelings. At least, that's what Josie's research has thus far shown her. They practiced verbal magic and used runes to focus and strengthen it, but the source is much more temperamental and raw.</p><p>"I will provide the secret," Ricardo announces, drawing their attention to him. Josie's eyes catch onto his, only to find that he's already looking at her, his gaze gleaming with understanding. She feels her chest fill with warmth at his desire to take this sacrifice onto himself, rather than let Josie deal with it. The secret she would be forced to impart is not one that she wants Bill to know, after all.</p><p>She was going to confess her feelings to him after the trip to Sami Manqus, but when she returned to England and learned that he had begun to court Fleur while she was away, Josie knew she'd missed her chance. To be forced to confess now, after they had just become engaged and she had just received an invitation to their wedding…she isn't sure she'd be able to live with the humiliation.</p><p>Ricardo is a good man. Bill doesn't see it, but she knows that it's true. Josie sends him a small nod and he inhales a deep breath, not looking away from her even as he begins to speak.</p><p>"My feelings for you were genuine, <em>querida</em>. I fell in love with you when we first met," Ricardo tells her, setting his shoulders back as his light brown eyes pierce into hers. He looks almost militaristic as he stands in front of her and opens his heart to her lingering gaze, his feet planted slightly apart as he awaits judgement.</p><p>Josie isn't expecting this secret. She stares at him in surprise, though the more she considers his words, the less surprised she becomes. Perhaps she had always known, somewhere within her, that Ricardo's ne'er-do-well persona is only a mask to hide what the rest of society may see as a weakness. The corner of her mouth quirks up fondly.</p><p>Ricardo is fighting to keep his own smile at bay when he quickly adds, "The first time we made love, you held my heart in your hands – "</p><p>"Is it really necessary to go into that much detail?" Bill gruffly demands from off to the side.</p><p>Ricardo pauses, then a devilish light enters his eyes as he stares at Josie, and she sighs because she knows full well what Bill has just done.</p><p>Ricardo smirks and sexily purrs, "When you took me against your tongue, I – "</p><p>"That's definitely enough, Ricardo," Josie cuts in with a vivid blush. "I think Bill is about to have a heart attack."</p><p>Ricardo casually glances over to Bill and breaks out into snickers at the sight of his unnaturally red face. Coupled with the scowl that's firmly etched over his mouth, the sight of the English curse-breaker has Ricardo's snickers quickly turning into loud laughter.</p><p>"Ah, the English are such prudes," he crows, absolutely delighted with Bill's embarrassment<em>. "Está imaginando cómo le harías un pete, cariño."</em></p><p>"Ricardo!" Josie hisses at him, blushing at what he had just said.</p><p>The Peruvian merely snorts, "Fine, fine. I will stop filling his head with images of you writhing beneath me. My secret has been shared. I will give you both some space while you handle the next sacrifice."</p><p>With that, the bloody Peruvian waltzes off to where they'd dropped their bags near the entrance of the room, whistling beneath his breath as he goes. Bill glowers at him until Josie sighs and reaches out to take his shoulder, turning him back towards the word glyph and away from Ricardo bloody Vasquez.</p><p>"He's a <em>good guy?"</em> Bill mutters at her, repeating her words from before. His face is still flushed just so from Ricardo's vulgar descriptions of her, and he's definitely not imagining her lips wrapped around – fuck no, he's not. That would be wrong on so many levels.</p><p>Josie clears her throat and awkwardly concedes, "Most of the time." Ricardo certainly doesn't hold back. She still doesn't understand the point of his game or what he's trying to achieve, but her face is still burning hotly as she crosses her arms and turns her eyes to the next inscription.</p><p>Two hurts released. Right. Well this shouldn't be too hard, seeing as she's got a lot of hurts these days. But which one to use? It has to be potent enough for the magic to accept the sacrifice. Halfhearted admissions won't cut it. She doesn't want to go <em>too</em> far, though. When their time at this Incan temple is over and they return to England, she doesn't want her relationship with Bill to get any more awkward than it's already become. If she remains firmly planted in friendship, then she won't risk Bill learning about what's within her heart. She just has to phrase it the right way, that's all.</p><p>Josie nods to herself and closes her eyes, wracking her brain for the right words. Words – they have never been her strong suit. Her reckless heart doesn't always know when to say the right thing. This time, though, she is determined.</p><p>"When you starting dating Fleur, I was hurt," she blurts out. Damn. That wasn't right.</p><p>She can feel Bill turn to stare at her, probably in surprise, but she doesn't open her eyes to check.</p><p>"I mean. It felt like you were pushing me away. Like I wasn't as important to you anymore," she explains, keeping her voice clear. She's rather proud of herself for that, actually. It takes some effort.</p><p>Silence falls between them. She keeps her eyes closed.</p><p>Admitting what's in your heart is never easy. Humans are prideful creatures. When they perceive a hurt, they do not want to make it apparent. It shows weakness, so instinctively, they push it out of sight and ignore it. Well, that's what Josie does, anyway.</p><p>She hears Bill exhale a breath beside her and finally opens her eyes. She only looks at him, though, when she feels his fingers brush over hers and his hand slip into her own. Then, finally, her head turns and her eyes alight upon his, and the blue of them are so intense that she has to hold her breath. God, he's beautiful…does he even realize what he does to her?</p><p>His long red hair gleams dully, the strands appearing almost silver in the light of the blueish runes in front of them. The floating orb of light that has been hanging over their heads for some time now casts shadows across his face, highlighting his strong nose and long eyelashes, the rise of his cheekbones and the fullness of his mouth.</p><p>"Your turn," she whispers, before he can say anything about her admission.</p><p>Her voice is barely a breath of sound and it seems to make his eyes even more intense. He doesn't look away from her when he swallows and murmurs, "…I suppose I was…upset when you became a curse-breaker."</p><p>Josie's surprise and confusion must be apparent, because he purses his mouth and explains, "It felt as if your job was more important than our friendship. You were always going out on expeditions and I'd never see you. It was one of the reasons why I decided to take the job in Egypt."</p><p>She stares at him in silent shock. Then, incredulous, Josie turns to face him and studies his eyes, which are blaring with honesty.</p><p>"…Bill," she begins, though she isn't sure what she intends to say. She thinks she'd like to tell him why her job had been so important back then, but before she gets the chance, she is interrupted.</p><p>Ricardo waltzes past them, no doubt having been keeping one ear on them so that he knew when the second sacrifice was completed. Josie's words get lodged in her throat as the Peruvian drops something into a small, unassuming basin that has been carved into the stone near the floor. Distracted now, she furrows her brow as she peers at whatever he had dropped into it, and sees a leather cord with what looks like a carved bone pendant hanging from it.</p><p>"My treasure," Ricardo informs them. "A gift from my <em>abuela</em> before she passed."</p><p>Now that the moment has been thoroughly broken, Josie sighs and slips her hand out of Bill's. She throws a brief glance at him. He's still looking at her, no doubt waiting for the rest of her words, but this is no longer the time for heart to hearts.</p><p>"Right. Three treasures lost," Josie murmurs, and then slides off her leather jacket and deposits it wordlessly into the basin along with Ricardo's pendant.</p><p>Bill's mouth parts in shock. "Josie, your <em>jacket?"</em> he asks, sounding baffled. Ricardo doesn't seem to understand why, but then again, he hadn't been there when Josie had first bought it in that muggle thrift shop back during the summer before seventh year. Ricardo knows a lot about Josie that Bill doesn't know, but Bill has been her best friend since they were awkward eleven year olds. He was there when she decided to try out for the Gryffindor team back during their second year. He was there during all the injuries she had sustained as a result of Quidditch, when she would boast about her many bruises and cuts and dream of the day when she'd get admitted into the hospital wing. ("Only then will I be a <em>proper</em> Quidditch player, Billy.") He was there for every school function that they ended up attending together. There for every Hogsmeade trip as upper classmen. There every time she cried over a boy and wondered why they couldn't all be like him. And he was there when she had slipped that jacket on for the first time and transformed in front of his eyes, as if the leather was somehow enchanted to give her even more confidence than she already had.</p><p>Her leather jacket is her good luck charm. It always has been. To see her give it up like this is shocking.</p><p>Josie, though, merely sends him a grimacing smile and mutters, "I think I used up all the good luck anyway, Bill. It's nothing but worn out leather now."</p><p>He's still shocked, though, even when Ricardo taps the basin and sends him an impatient look, silently reminding him that he still needs to hand over one of his treasures, too. He has nothing of value to sacrifice, though. Well, nothing except the fang earring in his left ear. When he drops it into the basin, all he can think about is how happy his mum will be when he returns home without it.</p><p>They all fall into silence as they wait for the magic to accept the sacrifices that were given. In wake of everything that was confessed, the tension in the group feels tense and stifling. Even Ricardo seems to have forgotten his usual charm, because he stands with his arms crossed firmly over his chest as he stares at the wall of glyphs and waits, his foot tapping with an impatient energy that is rare for him to show.</p><p>Nearly a full minute passes in that thick silence before anything happens. They are all starting to wonder if perhaps one of their sacrifices wasn't good enough when suddenly a low rumbling sound fills the room. The runes on the wall begin to glow a brighter blue, so much so that they become nearly blinding to look at directly. They shine with ancient power as the rumbling shakes the floor, and the <em>Sanancha Pirqa </em>slowly begins to move.</p><p>The effect is similar to the way the doorway of the temple opened. The once solid wall now magically splits into individual stones that roll forward and then to the side, revealing an entranceway that leads deeper into the temple. Beyond the threshold, it is pitch black, impenetrable even to the orb of light that floats above their heads.</p><p>"Well," Ricardo says, finally breaking the tense silence that sits uncomfortably between them. He glances at Josie, and then at Bill, and pulls out his wand to summon more light. "Shall we?" he wonders, and then plunges into the darkness without another word.</p><p>Right. Josie nods, looks over at Bill, and says, "Let's go, then." Much to his surprise, she holds out her hand. His mouth curls up just so as he reaches for it, and together they follow Ricardo into the darkness.</p><p>And it is dark. The orb follows them and Ricardo lights the way from ahead, but the darkness seems more oppressing than it had before. The air, which had already been stale the moment they reached the bottom of the stairs at the beginning of the temple, now seems to be full of a musty odor that only further proves that they are the first people to step through these corridors for a very long time.</p><p>"We must be getting closer to the treasury room," Bill says. He's been in enough of these ancient sites to know what to look for, and this is definitely one of those signs.</p><p>Ricardo grunts in agreement and responds, "It won't be much further now."</p><p>Another silence falls as they continue at their slow pace. Every other moment, Ricardo pauses to swish his wand through the air, checking for curses. Now that they are deeper into the temple, there are more of them than before, and they are often forced to stop and break them before continuing on.</p><p>It is during one of these breaks that Ricardo, who is working on dismantling a string of them, randomly murmurs, <em>"Querida,</em> I hope you do not think that I am still in love with you."</p><p>Josie raises an eyebrow at the suddenness of this, and Ricardo pauses to catch her eye over his shoulder and wink at her.</p><p>"You are truly a mesmerizing woman, but I have a loyal heart," he adds as he returns his attention to the runic symbols in front of him.</p><p>Bill rolls his eyes. Josie sees it and nudges him as Ricardo sighs dramatically and murmurs, "What we shared will forever be a most spectacular memory, which I will recall with fondness."</p><p>Josie bites back a laugh.</p><p>"I will of course continue striving to make you blush, because it reminds me of the way your entire body blushes as well, including your immaculate bosom – "</p><p>Bill's annoyance takes a slightly deeper turn when he snaps, "Would you shut the bloody hell up already?"</p><p>Josie clears her throat and sighs, "Thank you, Ricardo, but I'd really appreciate it if you left my bosom out of it.'</p><p>Ricardo smiles devilishly back at her but acquiesces. "Very well,<em> querida.</em> You know I have never been able to refuse any of your orders."</p><p>Bill grits his teeth and pushes away the mental image of Josie's bosom, which is a little too easy to imagine now that her leather jacket is gone. The tank top she's wearing is a form-fitting thing and it only further reminds him that Josie has definitely grown into herself without him noticing. Until now, that is, since Ricardo bloody Vasquez is always reminding him of it.</p><p>That bloody Peruvian.</p><p>With a grumbled sigh, Bill steps over to their bags and says, "Let's have something to eat. I'm starving and Vasquez is taking his time with this curse."</p><p>Ricardo snorts from up ahead and breezily responds, "I am only making sure that we do not meet our untimely deaths."</p><p>Bill doesn't answer him and just crouches down to sort through their things in his search for something to eat. When Josie joins him and he sees the bandage still wrapped around her palm, he murmurs, "We should check on that cut. Make sure it's not getting infected."</p><p>She glances down at her hand and hums, "I'm sure it's fine." When she sees the firm glance Bill sends her, though, Josie sighs, <em>"Alright,</em> you can check it. Stop fretting."</p><p>Bill shakes his head at her and mutters, "You should take more care of yourself, Jos."</p><p>At his subtle grousing, she smiles and responds, "That's why I've got you, though."</p><p>He pauses as he's reaching for her bandaged hand, looks up at her, and smiles back. "That's true enough," he murmurs, though she can't help but think that his smile looks a bit strained.</p><p>For a long moment, silence falls between them. Ricardo's quiet muttering is the only thing to be heard as Bill unravels the bandage from around her hand to get a better look at the cut. He seems entirely invested in his task, to the point where he keeps his eyes firmly downward and doesn't raise them to hers at all. Maybe it's the strained smile from before or the fact that he seems to be avoiding eye contact, but Josie decides that now is as good a time as ever to say what she had wanted to say in front of the glyph wall.</p><p>In a quiet voice, she murmurs, "I wanted you to be proud of me."</p><p>She keeps her eyes downturned also, so when Bill glances up at her, she's staring at the cut that slices open the skin of her palm. She feels him studying her face for a long moment, but doesn't look up at him until she sighs, "You've always been a better curse-breaker than me, Bill. I wanted to show you that I could be just as good. I didn't realize you felt that way…about me throwing myself into my work…"</p><p>She trails off as her eyes finally peer into his. The intense way he's looking at her shakes her. She often thinks that Bill can see the essence of someone with just one look, and that's the look he's giving her now. It's like he can see right through her skin to the beating heart beneath.</p><p>After a long moment, he exhales, "Is this about Wright saying you're incompetent? I've been watching you break through curses left and right since we entered this temple. You're more than competent – you're incredible." He curls his fingers around her wrist as he gingerly holds her injured hand and quirks his mouth up just so.</p><p>She's just a tiny bit embarrassed about the way her breath catches and her eyes get teary when he says that. Just a tiny bit. Bill's smile turns a touch incredulous when he shakes his head at her and mutters, "Don't you know how amazing I think you are? Honestly, Josie." He chuckles a bit, and Josie chuckles too, and Bill reaches over to tap her chin and lift her face back up to catch his eye again.</p><p>"I didn't realize either…I didn't mean to make you think that I was pushing you away. Forgive me?" he asks, grimacing a little bit as he offers his apology.</p><p>Merlin, how could she not forgive him? Josie sends him a crooked smile. "I guess we're both idiots, huh?"</p><p>Bill laughs in response and hums, "Yeah, looks like it. Now hold still so that I can heal this."</p><p>She does, watching him douse the cut with more wound-cleaning potion before he starts to wrap a fresh bandage around it. His fingers are so gentle that she barely feels his touch against her skin. She barely feels the eyes cautiously watching the two of them, either, from further up ahead.</p><p>Ricardo Vasquez means what he said earlier: whatever feelings he had for Josie in the past are no more. That doesn't mean he isn't still protective of her, though, and watching Bill treat her with such caring attentiveness doesn't sit well with him. Ricardo happens to know the look that blazes through Bill's eyes very well. It was a look he himself has given Josie many a time in the past, back when he fancied himself to be in love with her. It's a look that sears quietly through Bill's gaze right now, as he gingerly rebandages Josie's wound and whispers back and forth with her with their heads pushed together.</p><p>For a man who is engaged to another woman, Bill Weasley is certainly looking at Josie in a manner that seems far more intimate than one 'best friend' ought to have towards another.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>
    <strong>Translations:</strong>
  </em>
</p><p>"<em>Los Ingleses son unos ciegos huevones." – The English are blind idiots</em></p><p>"<em>Está imaginando cómo le harías un pete, cariño." – He is thinking of you sucking him off now, darling.</em></p><p>
  <em>Sanancha Pirqa – A very loose Quechua translation for a Glyph Wall, a common feature in many ancient sites around the world. In Bill's experience, Egyptian glyph walls usually contain a riddle that must be correctly answered before one can proceed. When an incorrect answer is given, many bad things can happen, including but not limited to: impairment of limbs, blistered skin, broken bones, full body lesions, and death. Naturally, the Inca were more interested in less bloody glyph walls, as they much preferred that their human sacrifices be made for more specific purposes, and so their glyphs walls instead contained both riddles as well as other sacrificial demands. Oftentimes, these demands included ones that might, say, make one gain a bit more clarity regarding the fact that one is desperately in love with one's best friend. They were really quite prescient, the Inca.</em>
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  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Never Bring a Faulty Wand to a Fight</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you all for the reviews! Here is a longer chapter to get everyone through until Friday's update :) Please enjoy</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  <strong>Chapter Nine | Never Bring a Faulty Wand to a Fight</strong>
</p><p>"We have reached the inner sanctum, English curse-breaker. It won't be long now," Ricardo drawls as they carefully make their way down another narrow corridor, which opens up to a large room. Since the glyph room, the curses have grown steadily more challenging. Ricardo has taken to waving his wand every other minute to ensure that they don't walk head-first into them. The way forward is therefore quite slow, as they have to stop often to dismantle the Quechua glyphs that Ricardo's magic reveals to them.</p><p>Josie has taken to walking beside Bill, though she usually joins Ricardo when another set of curses is revealed. It's always a good idea to have two pairs of eyes deciphering them, just in case. For example, the curses that Ricardo is now attempting to dismantle are intricately woven together, so much so that it's nearly impossible to decide which one to tackle first. There's about two dozen of them all overlapping each other in a complex array of glyphs. Working on the wrong one first could trigger the others into setting off and get them all killed.</p><p>Bill once more feels a bit useless as Josie steps forward to assist. He's beginning to wish that he had taken the time to study more than just Egyptian hieroglyphs, but alas, he has no idea how to read these Quechua symbols. The more basic curses that he had helped with before are nowhere to be found now that they are so deep within the temple.</p><p>"Yes, I know. This isn't my first expedition," Bill drawls back, trying not to snap at the bloody Peruvian. It's difficult, especially because Ricardo keeps 'forgetting' that Bill is not, in fact, a junior curse-breaker. Of course, Bill has a strong suspicion that Ricardo <em>hasn't</em> actually forgotten this and is merely trying to get on his nerves, as he's been doing since joining up with him and Josie.</p><p>"Ah, but it is your first time in an Incan temple," comes Ricardo's breezy response, which is just smug enough to make Bill grit his teeth in annoyance.</p><p>"There we go, I think that's the last one," Josie interrupts before Bill can respond. She waves her borrowed wand and the final glyph collapses, clearing the way forward. As it disappears, Josie crosses her arms and glances over at the two men. "Should we keep going, or would you two like to have a moment to argue again?"</p><p>Bill sighs and runs a hand through his hair, mussing up the low ponytail. Ricardo merely sends her a charming grin and gestures down the narrow hallway.</p><p>"Honestly, you're worse than children," she mutters as she does, holding Bill's wand in front of her and waving it every now and again to ensure that she isn't walking into a curse.</p><p>At her side, Ricardo pouts, "Have I not proven my manhood to you, <em>querida?"</em></p><p>Bill glowers at the back of his head as Josie snorts out a laugh and pats Ricardo on the chest in an almost patronizing manner. The Peruvian pouts even more, but his eyes are gleaming with laughter.</p><p>With a sigh, Ricardo cracks his fingers and stretches. "Careful,<em> querida,</em> this room feels strange to me," he says as they slowly enter the large room that spans out in front of them. As they pause to look around, Josie has to agree with Ricardo. It does feel strange. For some reason, her instincts are blaring at her to be cautious.</p><p>Bill steps up beside her and frowns. "There are mummies over there," he points out, nodding across the expanse of the room to where several Incan mummies are sitting on the ground.</p><p>They aren't like any mummies he's ever seen before. Instead of carefully laid in caskets and wrapped in linens, these mummies are sitting up with their limbs bound to their torsos. The wrappings have long ago decomposed. Whatever embalming techniques were used, their bones have blackened over the long stretch of time.</p><p>"They were most likely the keepers of this temple," Josie murmurs, eyeing the figures from where she stands. "And their servants," she adds as she glances around the room. In total, there looks to be about two dozen of said servants, who eerily sit upright along each of the four walls. The three shaman are located directly ahead, sitting in front of a large door and wearing cords of jewels around their dilapidated chests.</p><p>She looks at Bill and explains, "Even after death, the Inca believed that their ancestors were alive. They would consult with them and even parade them through the streets during festival days as an act of respect. They would also let their ancestors keep the gold that they accumulated throughout their lives and attend to them as if they were still living and breathing. Offering them food and the like."</p><p>Ricardo helpfully hums, "And keep the flies off their rotting corpses." He sends Bill a cheerful smile and adds, "But fear not, English curse-breaker. I have never encountered an Inferi in one of these temples."</p><p>"Yeah, well Egyptian tombs are full of them and this doesn't feel right to me," Bill cuts in, eyeing the bodies distrustfully. He's been around enough mummies to know that just because they look dead doesn't mean they <em>are</em> dead.</p><p>Ricardo laughs, unconcerned. "We are not in Egypt, Weasley. You do not know your way around Incan temples, as Josie and I do."</p><p>Bill sends him a sharp look, his eyes subtly filling with annoyance. "Look, I've been around a lot of mummies and I've got a bad feeling – "</p><p>"Billy," Josie hisses, "Give me my wand back."</p><p>Bill hardly hears her, though, because Ricardo is too busy scoffing, "I have been around a lot of mummies too, and never once have they moved."</p><p>"Bill!" Josie sighs, but he's too busy snapping back at Ricardo.</p><p>"Well maybe there's something about this temple that's somehow more important than the other ones you've been in," Bill growls, growing more annoyed with every passing second. Why can't the bloody Peruvian just listen to him for once? He's not some untried curse-breaker who's never done field work before!</p><p>With a sniff, Ricardo responds, "Kon was the Incan rain god. He was not particularly powerful or bloodthirsty and I cannot imagine why – <em>querida,</em> what are you doing?"</p><p>Bill would actually like to know the answer to that as well. You see, it isn't every day that he gets randomly groped by his best friend.</p><p>"Um. Josie?" he asks as she slips her hand beneath into his jacket and feels around the fabric for her wand. She tries to ignore the way the back of her hand brushes against his shirt, and the hard muscle beneath – right. This is important and she can't get distracted by his proximity.</p><p>"You might want to look behind you," she mutters to Bill as she checks the other flap of his jacket. Her fingers finally close around the handle of her wand, where he had tucked it into the inner pocket back when he let her borrow his. As she's wrangling it out, Bill and Ricardo finally see what she's been trying to tell them for some moments now.</p><p>"<em>¿Cómo es posible esto?" </em>Ricardo exclaims, turning on his heel to face the mummies that line the walls. They are slowly beginning to rise, their decomposed bones quietly creaking with movement as their legs shakily stretch and stand.</p><p>Josie really wishes she had gone to Ollivanders now. She hands Bill his wand back, and takes her own, nearly sighing in relief at the familiar feeling of it in her hand. There's nothing for it, really. Bill needs to be able to protect himself and Josie only has to pray that the fracture in her wand won't act up. Bill and Ricardo shuffle her between them as the mummies-turned-Inferi begin to hobble forwards. She's never felt as defenseless as she does now, watching her fellow curse-breakers begin to fire spells at the mummies and not being able to do anything herself.</p><p>"Josie," Bill says, reaching for her hand. He tangles his fingers with her and pushes her behind him. He throws a couple of wards up in hopes of stemming the attack, but it doesn't do much good. The Inferi only continue to hobble towards them, their eyes glowing with traces of the magic that was used to keep them partially alive.</p><p>It isn't really the servants that they need to worry about, though. One blast of fire from Ricardo's wand sends several of them flying back into a pile of bones, easily disposed of. The three shaman priests, however…</p><p>A great ball of blueish magic comes hurtling towards them. Bill only just manages to throw up a ward in time. The magic disperses against it, rattling against the ward with powerful force.</p><p>"Inferi aren't supposed to be able to wield magic," Bill mutters, throwing a stunning spell at one of them. It successfully stops the mummy from staging another attack, but only because the force of the stunning spell catches into its arm and takes the bone clean off. The rest of it is fine, and, now armless, the shaman Inferi turns back to Bill with the same savage expression that his fellows are also wearing.</p><p>"There are not supposed to be Inferi here at all!" Ricardo exclaims, sounding quite ruffled as he focuses on finishing off the remainder of the servant-Inferi behind them. He sends another stream of fire at a line of them, but when the creatures only hobble right through it without pause, he curses and sends a <em>bombardo</em> spell at the group in hopes of disabling them that way. The force of it works; they are thrown backwards into the walls and crumble to the floor as their weak, decomposed bones shatter from their torsos.</p><p>"Merlin," Josie groans as Bill forces her to stay behind him. "I'm gonna have so many reports to file about this!"</p><p>Upon hearing this, Bill lets out a laugh and sends a binding curse at one of the shaman. As the creature falls to the floor, limbs tightly bound, he responds, "I think you might be the only girl I know who would actually think about <em>paperwork</em> when you're facing down ancient Inferi priests."</p><p>Josie sends him a crooked smile that Bill instantly returns – until of course Ricardo rolls his eyes at them and says, "You may want to pay a bit more attention to the task at hand. I, for one, would like to get through this alive."</p><p>Bill clears his throat and mutters, "Right," as he turns back to throw a blasting curse at the armless Inferi, who is in the process of hobbling down the dais towards where they're standing. Both Bill and Ricardo are a bit distracted with finishing off the remaining two shaman. As such, they don't seem to see what Josie does as she glances behind them.</p><p>Josie is definitely not an expert in Inferi. Before now, she's only ever read about them in textbooks back at school. Her curse-breaking expeditions have never required her to know anything about this form of dark magic at all, because she has never known the Inca to use such enchantments. This is the first time she's seeing anything like this – Ricardo's too, judging by the surprised expletives that are still leaving his lips every other moment. Anyway, the point is that she doesn't know much about Inferi besides what she vaguely remembers from her Defense Against the Dark Arts classes, but she knows enough to realize that Ricardo's bombarding spells from earlier should have fully dismantled them. After all, these sorts of Inferi are little more than mummified bones left to rot away for centuries. Thing is, though, that when Josie hears a strange clacking noise from behind her and turns her head to see what it is, the sight she's met with makes her realize that these are most definitely not your ordinary Inferi.</p><p>"Um. Bill," she begins, but he's in the middle of throwing another blasting curse at the shaman him and Ricardo are dealing with and doesn't seem to hear.</p><p>Josie looks down at her fractured wand and prays that she isn't about to jinx herself. Then, pursing her mouth, she lifts it into the air and says<em>, "Petrificus totalus!"</em></p><p>Now. For all of those aspiring witches and wizards who are in Josie's position (not being chased by mummy-Inferi, that is, but rather those who are in possession of a fractured wand), I do most earnestly compel you to never perform dueling spells unless you have had it thoroughly inspected by your local wand expert, to ensure quality performance and, above all, safety. There is a growing emergence of what I like to call 'degenerates' in the youth today, who think that it is 'cool' and 'maverick' to go around boasting about their fearlessness and even fracturing their wands for fun simply to prove their magical fortitude. I strongly urge you to remove yourself from such unpalatable company, and recall the importance of practicing safety in all endeavors. As it is often said, "carefulness costs you nothing."</p><p>Of course, given the circumstances, some allowances must be made. Namely for the fact that if Josie were to do nothing, she would most likely end up getting torn apart by several very grotesque mummies, whose blackened bones have been popped back together in such a way as to deliver a nightmarish image to any who happen to look upon them. Considering that Josie has never much liked the thought of dying via ancient Incan mummies (now that she's thinking on the matter), she can't very well stand idly by while death hobbles closer with each passing second. After all, carefulness can also cost you everything, if you do not exercise the correct amount of it.</p><p>To return to the scene at hand, though, here is what happens:</p><p>Upon summoning the <em>petrificus totalus</em> spell and aiming it at one of the mummy-Inferi coming towards her, Bad Luck decides (through its omniscient perpetrator) that it wishes to make Josie's life a tad bit more challenging. And so instead of firing forwards at the skeletal mummy, the spell does a full 180-degrees turn, getting caught in the fracture and sweeping back up the wand. In conclusion, it never reaches the mummy at all, but it most certainly reaches Josie herself, whose body promptly stiffens and falls backwards…directly into Bill.</p><p>This is something of a conundrum, but some silver lining must be noted, because having Josie fall into him does wonders in capturing his attention. Bill pauses mid-spell, instinctively catches Josie before she can fall, and by doing so, turns his head in time to see the line of mummies that are now only several short meters away.</p><p>"Ricardo, you may want to hurry up!" he exclaims as he gathers Josie into the crook of his free arm and lifts his wand to throw several <em>confringo</em> curses at them. The moment they are thrown back into a heap of clattered bones, they once more begin to right themselves.</p><p>"Merlin, Josie, we have got to get your wand checked," he mutters, and murmurs the countercurse that will release her from the full body bind she had unwittingly placed herself under. He doesn't release her from his grasp until she's regained her balance, and even then, he hovers close to her as he turns and watches the mummies begin to rise once more.</p><p>Josie stares glumly down at her fractured wand. "It just <em>has</em> to act up at a time like this," she sighs, scrubbing a hand through her hair as Ricardo finishes off the last of the shamans. He must have noticed the trouble that Bill and Josie are having, because he makes sure to put several freezing spells on the mummies so as to keep them from getting back up.</p><p>"Ah, do not despair, <em>querida.</em> I am sure the English curse-breaker will be happy to let you hold his wand again soon," Ricardo purrs as he joins them. His breathing is a bit uneven from all the action, but it only serves to make his innuendo even more substantial.</p><p>Bill shoots him an annoyed look and Josie rolls her eyes. "What, you no longer want to offer up your own wand in service?" she sarcastically wonders as the two men begin to send more freezing spells towards the mummies that are still trying to rise.</p><p>Ricardo laughs aloud at her question and innocently murmurs, "Ah. You have serviced my wand many times, <em>querida</em>. I am not a selfish man. I will allow Weasley the opportunity this time."</p><p>Josie crosses her arms and mutters, "How generous of you."</p><p>Bill just pushes back the blush that's threatening to overcome him and grumbles, "I can't wait to leave this bloody continent."</p><p>Ricardo looks slightly insulted at this. He puts his hands on his hips and huffs, "Is he always so rude, <em>querida?</em> <em>No entiendo por qué lo amas."</em></p><p>Before Josie can respond, Bill glowers over at Ricardo and grouses, "And the fact that you talk to Josie in Spanish when you know I can't understand you annoys the hell out of me."</p><p>Ricardo smiles his innocent devil smile. <em>"</em><em>¿Perdón? ¿Estoy hablando Español? No lo había notado."</em></p><p>Bill's eyebrows furrow into a deep frown, which Ricardo pretends not to see because he is currently being a flamboyant angel. With a sigh, he holds out his elbow for Josie to take and says, <em>"No es posible la amistad entre un hombre y una mujer. Tarde o temprano, uno de ellos se dará cuenta de cuántas ganas tiene de tirarse al otro."</em></p><p>"Would you either shut the hell up or speak English?" Bill growls, and then promptly reaches forward to grab Josie's hand and pull her away from the bloody Peruvian. She ends up spinning into his side, where she belongs.</p><p>Josie, who clearly isn't expecting the move, merely stares up at Bill with a surprised expression, but he is too busy glowering at Ricardo to notice. As for Ricardo himself, his eyebrow is quickly raising at the possessive hold Bill has on Josie. His eyes flicker with a curious light, and in a humming voice, he muses, "Perhaps he knows it already, <em>querida."</em></p><p>Bill seems a bit surprised as well, to hear Ricardo speaking in English once more. He had expected a bit more of a fight, but Ricardo knows how to play this game and he merely smirks over at Bill with knowing eyes.</p><p>"Perhaps he wants to fuck you after all," Ricardo continues, much to Josie's horror and Bill's immense embarrassment. At the sight of the blush that captures Bill's face, Ricardo sends him another innocent look and shrugs, "You told me to speak English, so I speak English."</p><p>Bill could honestly strangle him.</p><p>"For Merlin's sake, Ricardo," Josie groans, "we just stumbled into a room full of mummy-Inferi, which we've never seen before on <em>any </em>of our expeditions, and all you can talk about is sex."</p><p>Bill's face grows slightly hotter. Ricardo just fondly chuckles, "It is one of my charms, <em>querida."</em></p><p>Josie rolls her eyes and slips her hand out of Bill's to open her rucksack. "Anyway. I want to record everything that happened here so I can research it when we get back to England."</p><p>It's standard procedure, really. After breaking each curse, a properly employed curse-breaker ought to make a notation of it before continuing on. Unless you are a rogue curse-breaker who works for yourself, a lot of paperwork goes into closing off a case. This temple will involve even more, simply because of the fact that they found mummy-Inferi within it; something they have never before encountered.</p><p>"I will have to ask around the Council to find more information on this," Ricardo tells her as they begin to examine one of the mummies. Bill hovers close by with his wand at the ready, in case the thing manages to get out of his freezing spell and attacks them again.</p><p>Josie hums and jots down some notes in the small journal she's brought with her. "Owl me if you find anything. I wonder if Artie has ever heard of Inferi in South America."</p><p>From above their crouched forms, Bill shrugs, "It might not be that unusual. This is a Pantheonic temple, isn't it? In Egypt, there're always more Inferi in those sorts of tombs."</p><p>"Yes, but the Inca did not often practice full reanimation spells…it is quite strange," Ricardo murmurs.</p><p>Josie shrugs and stands up. "Well in any case, why don't you get that door open, Ricardo? I'm ready to get out of this temple."</p><p>The two men seem to be in agreement. As Ricardo meanders to the large doors that the now-prone shamans had been sitting in front of, Josie finishes up with her notes. She sets about recording everything that has taken place in this room, from the moment they walked into it to now. This is an unprecedented situation for her and she's curious to find out if there are other South American curse-breakers who had discovered reanimated mummies in other temples. She's eager to return to England and throw herself into her research and doesn't want to forget anything. The smallest details, she has found, often lead to the largest discoveries.</p><p>Bill remains at her side as she peruses the room, keeping one eye on her just in case something happens. She's practically defenseless at the moment and he's not about to allow another situation like the one they had just been in.</p><p>"You know, there's a used wand shop in Devonshire we could go to until you can work up the funds to repair your wand," he suggests as he watches Josie study the archway above the doors Ricardo is currently dismantling. There are several other curses that have been placed around them to keep treasure-hunters out. From the looks of it, he's got quite a few drowning curses to work through.</p><p>Bill's suggestion captures Josie's attention. She glances over her shoulder at him and frowns, "A used wand isn't the same as <em>my</em> wand, though."</p><p>That's true enough. In a lot of ways, Bill considers himself lucky to be the eldest of his siblings, because he didn't have to use as many hand-me-downs as his brothers and sister. There's nothing quite like being chosen by a wand whose magic coincides perfectly with your own. Used wands are often a hit or a miss and more often than not, they don't work nearly as well due to your magic not matching with it properly. Still, though…</p><p>"It's dangerous to be walking around with a malfunctioning wand," he points out in a low voice, thinking upon the gathering darkness that is even now festering within the borders of their country. Diagon Alley has become more perilous every day. Even the Order is having trouble keeping its head above the water. He'd feel a lot better if she at least had a backup.</p><p>Josie, as reckless as she can sometimes be, can see the truth to his statement, but she still sighs, "I'll go to Ollivanders first and see if this one can even be repaired at all. Maybe I'll be lucky and it won't cost that much."</p><p>Even as she says it, she wants to roll her eyes at herself. After all, luck isn't exactly something she has at the moment.</p><p>Bill murmurs out his agreement and just says, "Alright. In the meantime though, you shouldn't go out after dark anymore. Or…make any more trips into Knockturn Alley, Josie." He says that last bit tentatively, as if he knows he's treading water by bringing it up.</p><p>Josie sends him a sharp look but just purses her lips. If he's hoping that she'll explain why she was in that part of town, he's surely disappointed. She doesn't respond to him at all, and merely goes back to jotting down some of the glyphs that are inscribed above the door.</p><p>Bill sighs. "Josie, are you sure you're not in trouble?" he asks quietly, stepping closer to her and studying her downturned expression.</p><p>He watches her scribble down the final glyph before snapping her journal shut and saying, "Bill. Please stop worrying about me. I'm fine." Her voice is just obstinate enough to make him frown. He opens his mouth to say more, but she merely adds, "Bill, just drop it," in a tired voice.</p><p>He frowns deeper, but before he can demand what, exactly, she wants him to drop (he's just <em>worried</em> about her), Ricardo says, "I am finally finished, <em>querida</em>. As I said, never doubt a Peruvian's longevity."</p><p>Bill's concern promptly fades to annoyance. Josie just laughs, which annoys him even more. Why does she always laugh at the bloody Peruvian's innuendos?</p><p>Ricardo waves his wand and the doors begin to swing open with a low groan, their ancient hinges moving for the first time in centuries. Beyond the threshold, the room is pitch black. The first few meters are just barely illuminated by the orb of light hovering near Ricardo's shoulder, but other than that, it is swathed with darkness. Until, of course, Ricardo flicks his wand and sends the orb of light plummeting forward.</p><p>"…Well. We have found the treasure," Ricardo happily (and needlessly) informs them. The moment the orb of light shifts forward, the entire room transforms from pitch blackness to glittering gold. The Peruvian looks back to wink at them before taking a step forward…only to be dragged back when Josie grabs his arm and stops him.</p><p>"The inscription, Ricardo," she hisses, glancing up at the archway above the door. Her mind spins with the memory of the last archway she had walked beneath months prior, in the depths of Sami Manqus.</p><p>Ricardo sighs at her. <em>"Querida,</em> I have told you before – "</p><p>"It's <em>real,</em> Ricardo," she mutters, then switches over to Spanish lest Bill hear. <em>"Estoy maldecida."</em></p><p>Ricardo purses his mouth and murmurs, <em>"Te creo, pero me parece que podría haber otra explicación."</em></p><p>"…<em>Ten cuidado,"</em> she sighs, scrubbing a hand through her messy hair.</p><p>Off to the side, Bill raises an eyebrow at them and wonders, "Is everything alright?" He doesn't sound very impressed with their switch to Spanish. He peers at Josie carefully, no doubt wondering what they were just talking about.</p><p>Ricardo glances at her too, before he says, "Everything is fine, English curse-breaker. Josie was merely expressing her concern over my safety." Then he smirks and adds, "I fear she would not be able to survive without me."</p><p>This draws a smile from Josie, though it's slightly exasperated. Bill just hums dryly and mutters, "Yeah, I'm sure she'd go crazy without your constant stream of innuendos."</p><p>Despite the sarcasm in Bill's voice, Ricardo nods and agrees, "Ah yes, I have often made Josie crazy for me. Now, shall we?" Then, before Josie can stop him again, Ricardo steps into the treasury room and calls, "See? All is safe! I will live to see tomorrow!"</p><p>Bill gruffly rolls his eyes and steps up to Josie, setting a hand on her back as they follow Ricardo. "Bloody Peruvian," he mutters beneath his breath. Josie nudges him playfully and he sends her a grudging smile.</p><p>Anyone who has never stepped foot in an ancient treasury room would no doubt be amazed at the sight that meets them. There is a small dais in the center of the room where a stone table is set into it. Gold surrounds it, piled high to the ceilings and glimmering brightly from the light of the orb. There are golden llamas and silver jaguars, gleaming crowns depicting the sun god, ceremonial knives and jewelry laid out over top golden coins. To the standard treasure hunter, this would be a discovery beyond measure. Josie, though, is more focused on the stone table at the center of it all. On its surface are several clay bowls and urns filled with expensive oils of cardamom and palmarosa. What really captures her attention, though, are the scrolls that have been magically sealed, which lay beside the bowls.</p><p>"Let's split up and make sure there aren't any curses around the room before we touch anything," Josie suggests as she tears her eyes away from the scrolls.</p><p>She reaches for her wand, only for Bill to grab her wrist and murmur, "Use mine. I don't understand these glyphs anyway."</p><p>She takes his wand sheepishly and mutters, "Right."</p><p>As she heads over to the base of the dais to check for curses, she hears Bill suddenly snap, "Don't even think about it, you bloody Peruvian – " and glances over to see that Ricardo's mouth is open and he looks as if he's about to spout yet another innuendo.</p><p>He's eyeing Bill's wand with a look of glee, but when he realizes that Josie is raising her eyebrow at him, he just pouts, "But <em>querida</em>…there are so many things I could say…"</p><p>Josie rolls her eyes at him and responds, "Yes, Ricardo, I am holding Bill's wand. Can we move past this now?"</p><p>Behind them, Bill snorts, "Yeah, make yourself useful."</p><p>Ricardo sniffs and mutters, "Fine, fine. The English curse-breaker has no sense of humor. <em>¿Por qué lo amas, cariño?"</em></p><p>As Josie waves the wand and uncovers several complicated curses, she sighs, <em>"Él es la persona más generosa que conozco… Es mi major amigo, y me conoce mejor de lo que me conozco a mí misma… </em><em>¿Por qué no lo amaría?"</em></p><p>Ricardo hums and responds, <em>"</em><em>Me pregunto qué diría si pudiera entenderte."</em></p><p>"<em>Probablemente diría que estoy loca," </em>Josie mutters with a humorless smile.</p><p>"Would you two please stop with the Spanish?" Bill sighs, sounding a bit put-out now that Josie is joining in with Ricardo's tactic. Josie glances over her shoulder to send him a quiet smile before turning back to the curse she's breaking.</p><p>"Sorry, Bill," she tells him.</p><p>On the other side of the room, Ricardo snorts, <em>"Él no se molestaría si supiera lo que acabas de decir."</em></p><p>Josie sighs and doesn't respond.</p><hr/><p>Ricardo has been a curse-breaker for over a decade now. Following in his father's footsteps had been something he was eager to do from the tender age of fourteen. He would beg his father for stories about his time adventuring through the wilderness. His favorite was always the story about Marco wrestling his way through a room full of enormous anacondas, deep within an ancient temple in the heart of the Andes Mountains. Of course, since actually becoming a curse-breaker himself, Ricardo is quite sure that this particular story had been highly exaggerated, but he still loves hearing it. His father is quite a story-teller.</p><p>Anyway, Ricardo has been a curse-breaker for a long time. He's made his way through many temples across South America since joining the Curse-Breaker Division for the Peruvian Council of Magic. He's created something of a name for himself over the years, vaulting up through the ranks with his experience and understanding of the ancient civilizations that once spanned the continent he calls his own. With all of this said, he has never believed in the <em>maldición del oro</em> that Josie has been obsessing over. Getting cursed on the job isn't necessarily an oddity. It happens all the time, especially to inexperienced curse-breakers who don't know their way around the temples they're assigned to. It even happened a few times to him, back when he was just starting out, but breaking those curses aren't difficult. It just requires a few backward steps and an understanding of cultural significance. Cursed gold, though? It's just a myth; a story that was spread around during the time of the Conquistadors, to make the invaders think twice about ransacking holy sites.</p><p>He's tried to tell her this, but Josie won't listen. She's convinced that she's been touched by the <em>maldición del oro. </em>In Ricardo's eyes, she has indeed been cursed, but he has never believed in the myths that Josie clings to. Then again, his <em>querida</em> is a stubborn creature. When she believes in something, she sticks by it no matter what. Her loyal heart is something he appreciates greatly.</p><p>"Ricardo, are you coming?" Josie calls from the doorway of the treasury room. He glances up at her, pushes his tousled hair out of his eyes, and sends a purring smile her way. She rolls her eyes and mutters, "Let me rephrase that: are you coming with us or would you rather stay here in this dark, musty room?"</p><p>At her side, Weasley drawls, "He can stay here if he wants. I won't complain."</p><p>Ah yes. Her stubbornness is definitely the reason why she's still in love with the English curse-breaker after all this time. Ricardo sends Bill a breezy smile and responds, "I think you will <em>miss me</em> when you return to your country, Weasley."</p><p>Bill sends him a doubtful look and slings an arm around Josie's shoulders to lead her out of the room. Ricardo watches them go with a musing expression, studying the arm around his <em>querida's</em> shoulders.</p><p>He's heard a lot about Bill Weasley over the years. From the way Josie had described him, he's always envisioned Bill to have more effeminate features. Long hair and a pierced ear aren't exactly the epitome of manliness, after all. Based on these previous descriptions, Ricardo also imagined that Bill would act more effeminate too. It would explain why he seems to be unable to view Josie as the hot-blooded woman Ricardo knows her to be. However, since actually meeting Bill face to face, he's since realized that this isn't the case at all. Bill Weasley isn't effeminate; he's just an idiot.</p><p>Ricardo doesn't understand it. How could a man look at Josie and not desire her? She is a goddess. Her long, tanned legs are gifts from the heavens. He could lay his head between her breasts and want for nothing, but she always made it clear that her heart belonged to someone else, and Ricardo was understanding of that despite how deeply he had fallen for her in those first few years. Perhaps if she hadn't been living permanently in England, things might have been different. He could have swept her off her feet properly, shown her that he could have loved her wholly, and stolen her heart from the one who has always possessed it.</p><p>Things are different now, of course. He hadn't lied about no longer being in love with Josie. He has a loyal heart too, despite his love of innuendo and insinuation. Ricardo Vasquez is not quite as much of a scoundrel as he lets on, but he can still appreciate the passionate memories that he had shared with the woman before him, and he can still wonder at why Bill Weasley is such a colossal idiot for not seeing Josie as the sensual creature she is.</p><p>With his pockets laden with trophies, Ricardo waltzes out of the treasury room behind them. They'd spent quite a few hours within the room. First, they had the task of breaking all the remaining curses that surrounded the treasure, and then came dealing with the treasure itself. As they went about reducing the chests and putting feather-light charms on them so as to make them easier to carry, Josie went around taking notes of everything being appropriated. Most of the treasure will be going to the Peruvian Council as per the usual agreements, while about a quarter of it will return to Gringotts with Josie and her English curse-breaker idiot. This is usually how things are done. Gringotts and the Peruvian Council hammer out their agreements and then send in their curse-breakers. There is always at least one curse-breaker from both countries to ensure that everything is done properly, lest someone take more than their allotted share. It may not seem like Gringotts is getting a very good deal from these expeditions, seeing as they're rarely ever able to take more than a quarter of the discovered treasure, but even a single golden coin is worth a lot of money.</p><p>"I think the English curse-breaker should be the one to check for curses on the way back, seeing as he has been useless this whole time," Ricardo says as he falls into step beside Josie. He slips his arm around her waist and sends Bill a leering smile over her head, amused at the shot of impatient annoyance that drives through Weasley's blue eyes. With a hum, Ricardo lowers his mouth to Josie's ear and purrs, "Besides, we have several things to discuss."</p><p>Despite his purring voice, he's being quite serious. They do have several things to discuss, and these things are not for the English curse-breaker's ears. Well, to be fair, Ricardo is actually of the mind that Josie should just tell Bill about her curse, but he will respect her wishes to keep it from him. From Josie's letters regarding what she's been dealing with, Weasley should have figured it out by now anyway, without having to be told. Honestly, he claims to be Josie's best friend, but he doesn't even see the blaring signs right in front of him. As a curse-breaker himself, Ricardo finds it quite unbelievable. He may not think that cursed gold is real, but there's no denying that Josie has indeed been cursed by something.</p><p>Bill sends Ricardo a sharp look, though he doesn't know if it's because he'd just called him useless or because he wants to talk to Josie privately. The English curse-breaker is annoyingly possessive of her despite his – what do they call it? – <em>friend-zoning</em>.</p><p>"I'd be happy to double check for curses," Bill says with narrowed eyes, "but I'm sure whatever you need to say to Josie, you can say it in front of me."</p><p>Ricardo merely sends him a purring smile and responds, "I could say a lot of things in front of you, English curse-breaker, but <em>esto es privado."</em></p><p>Bill glowers at him over Josie's head, until she pats his back and says, "It's just work related, Bill."</p><p>He clearly doesn't appreciate her brush-off, because he turns his glower onto her, next. Josie sends him an exasperated look that makes him sigh. His glower is just starting to fade when Ricardo adds, "Yes, it is of course related to our work." Then, turning to her ear again, he mutters, "He is so possessive of you, <em>querida. </em>Does he think I mean to drag you off and have my way with you in the shadows?"</p><p>Josie sends an elbow into Ricardo's gut as Bill's face reddens.</p><p>"I don't – you bloody – "</p><p>"Ricardo, must you always try to set him off?" Josie sighs.</p><p>Bill's scowl deepens. "He <em>doesn't</em> set me off – "</p><p>"But it is such fun, <em>querida</em>. It makes me happy," Ricardo smiles.</p><p>Bill releases a loud, frustrated exhale and storms off to the archway to check if the curses have sprung back up, apparently deciding to simply remove himself from the discussion entirely. Josie shoots Ricardo a look, and Ricardo merely shrugs and pulls her closer against him with an innocent expression.</p><p>"Besides," he murmurs quietly as he watches Bill wave his wand in front of the archway. "Like I said before, a little jealousy will do him some good."</p><p>Josie's gruff response to this is a sullen, "He's not jealous, Ricardo. He's in love with – "</p><p>"Yes, so you say," he interrupts. "I do not believe it." She raises an eyebrow at him, silently questioning this, and he murmurs, "The way he looks at you is not the way a friend looks at another. He is an idiot who has convinced himself that there is nothing between you, but deep within that prudish, English heart of his…" he trails off and sends her a look.</p><p>Josie bites her lip and mumbles, "…He's not a prude…", because she doesn't know what else to say.</p><p>This is a dangerous conversation. Ricardo must be seeing things. Bill doesn't look at her in the way he's saying he does. Ricardo just doesn't understand the extent of their friendship, that's all. Bill's always taken care of her and worried after her. It's the backbone of their friendship. It's how he's always been. Ricardo is misinterpreting that, and she can't allow herself to fall for his words. It would be only too easy to, because she <em>wants</em> to believe them so much.</p><p>"Let's just talk about the meeting," she quietly sighs, glancing at the back of Bill's head as he stands a ways in front of them. Her eyes hold just the faintest trace of longing.</p><p>Ricardo studies her for a moment before slowly agreeing. "Very well," he murmurs, then turns her away from Bill and riffles through the pocket of his trousers. "Mauricio sent me this last week," he tells her in a quiet voice, and pulls out a letter. He hands it to her and watches her unfold it. As she begins to read the correspondence, which is written out in lilting Spanish cursive, he says, "He has agreed to meet with us in Lima. He will bring the coin."</p><p><em>Vasquez, </em>the letter says,</p><p>
  <em>No conozco esta maldición de la que hablas, pero recuerdo a Josephine. Es una buena mujer, que te aguanta. Haré esto por ella, pero espero retribución. Nada es gratis, mi amigo. </em>
  <em>Mi hermano está trabajando en México, pero lo contactaré. </em>
  <em>Te esperaré en Lima.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mauricio Moreno</em>
</p><p>Josie folds the letter back up and breathes, "He'll come, then. This is good news. If only Salvador wasn't in Mexico…"</p><p>Ricardo takes the letter back and returns it to his pocket. He hums, "Yes, but I have always found Mauricio to be the more empathetic of the two. Perhaps it is better this way. Salvador will be more willing to hear us out if his brother can speak on our behalf."</p><p>Ricardo has worked with the Moreno brothers a few times over the years. He wouldn't call them friends, but they know him well enough to trust that he wouldn't attempt to swindle them. He hikes his rucksack higher over his shoulder and pats the side of it, adding, "I have plenty of payment, in any case. I think a bejeweled jaguar will more than make up for the loss of a single coin."</p><p>Josie purses her lips and murmurs, "…It feels wrong. We could get into a lot of trouble if someone finds out that we stole from the site."</p><p>Ricardo waves her words off though and just replies, "It is not stealing, <em>querida</em>. It is taking our share as payment for breaking these curses."</p><p>She thinks about her deal with Catalina, the jewels that she had requested in exchange for the Moondew that is even now safe within the confines of her bag, and mutters, "…Yeah, I suppose. So the plan hasn't changed then?"</p><p>They both turn to glance at Bill, who is a bit further away now as he double checks that the curses are still down. Ricardo hums, "Well, we will need to accommodate our guest now."</p><p>Josie grunts. They turn to exchange a look.</p><p>"We will return to Cajamarca tomorrow evening. We can slip out after Weasley goes to sleep and he will be none the wiser," Ricardo suggests. He makes it sound so easy. At her doubtful expression, Ricardo puts a hand on her shoulder and murmurs, "There is no other way, unless you wish for me to knock him out. I would not be averse to taking such measures for you, <em>querida."</em> The corner of his mouth quirks up with a hint of flirtatious seduction.</p><p>Josie laughs at him, then realizes that she's technically laughing about Bill getting knocked out and clears her throat. Ricardo snickers at her obvious conflict of interest and drawls, "There are other ways you could put him to sleep. Perhaps if you showed the English curse-breaker what true seduction looks like, he would be too exhausted to notice your absence." Josie opens her mouth to tell him to shut up, but Ricardo can't help but cut her off with a purred, "You could tie him to the bed so that he cannot follow us, and when we return you could have your wicked way with him until he finally realizes what an idiot he is to deny you – "</p><p>"<em>Ricardo!"</em> Josie exclaims. It's loud enough to capture Bill's attention, who immediately frowns at the tone of her voice and starts to walk towards them to see if she's alright.</p><p>" – and finally you could see if his wand is better than mine," Ricardo quickly finishes, just as Bill approaches them.</p><p>That last bit has her rolling her eyes at him even as her face explodes into a furious blush. The thought of tying Bill to a bed and having her 'wicked way' with him is definitely not a smart thing to be thinking about right now, especially when the redhead in question is currently marching over to them. Merlin, though, she really can't help but imagine, just for a moment, what it might be like to have him beneath him – hair splayed out over the pillows, expression enraptured as she leans over him to secure his hands above his head and kiss her way down his jaw once she is done…</p><p>"Josie, are you alright?" Bill demands, crossing his arms and eyeing Ricardo with a frown.</p><p><em>Josie, </em>he'd moan. She wonders what that would sound like…</p><p>"Josie," he prompts, raising an eyebrow at her.</p><p>Ricardo is grinning madly as he snickers, "Josie is fine. She is just imagining wicked, carnal things – <em>oomph!"</em></p><p>Josie glowers at him and, after elbowing him in the gut, marches away before he can say anything more about those 'carnal' things that she is imagining. It's his bloody fault for turning her thoughts in that direction anyway. Ricardo snickers again as he watches her march off and then glances over at Bill.</p><p>"Shall we?" he wonders, gesturing forward.</p><p>Bill sends him a suspicious look, but Ricardo merely smiles his innocent devil smile and Bill rolls his eyes and moves to follow Josie.</p><hr/><p>None of the curses have sprung back up during their time in the inner sanctum, but they check every single one just in case. Curses are all unique and, in Ricardo's words, some of them have faster recovery times than others. Bill had rolled his eyes when the Peruvian had jokingly said this and Josie had waited for him to find a way to drag Bill into one of his innuendos, as he's been doing since the two of them met, but Ricardo seems to be on his best behavior at the moment and has apparently decided that less is more.</p><p>After being in that temple for so long, stepping back into the sunlight feels almost like entering a new world. The dark, oppressing shadows are stripped away, and it takes some minutes to readjust their senses. It is a feeling that all three of them are well acquainted with by now, but it always comes as a sort of gentle surprise to remember that the rest of the world still exists.</p><p>"Ah, sunlight," Ricardo hums, tilting his face up to the leafy canopy high above their heads. The leaves shield much of the sun from view, but small dappled rays of it are able to broach the canopy and spiral down to earth. Couple with the fresh air, it's an almost overpowering sensation.</p><p>By all rights, this is a fairly standard job. The notes Josie has taken are safely written down in her small journal, and her bag is filled with gold that will later be redistributed between her and Ricardo, once they return to Zanetta's house and properly go over the job contract. For now, they are all carrying equal amounts, the treasure shrunken and weighing less than a feather as they make their way down the steps of the temple.</p><p>"So what now?" Bill asks as he falls into step beside Josie. Everything is back in order. His wand is returned and her own is safely tucked into her pocket. She won't need it for now, since the curse-breaking is finished with.</p><p>Josie shrugs, "Now we head back to Zanetta's and make sure everything is accounted for. Then, England."</p><p>England. It's funny, really, how much you miss your home even when you want to leave it so badly. Josie feels the press of nostalgia even now, as she follows Ricardo back into the rainforest that she loves so much. Peru is practically a second home to her, but England is where her heart truly resides.</p><p>Bill smiles at her and murmurs, "It'll be good to be back."</p><p>She smiles too, but it's strained. It will be good to return, but she knows that the moment their feet land on English soil, Bill will leave her again. He'll go back to Fleur and his family and, even despite the confessions they had made to each other in that temple, he won't realize he's doing it. He doesn't mean to, of course, but he does. He always does, somehow.</p><p>"While we are walking, Weasley, you can tell me about your Egyptian tombs," Ricardo says, glancing over his shoulder at the long haired curse-breaker. Bill looks surprised at the suggestion. Perhaps he had brushed off Ricardo's curiosity towards his work, before. Ricardo does have a way about him where he seems thoroughly uninterested in anyone else's life, but it's really all a glamour. He is endlessly inquisitive, especially where it concerns curse-breaking.</p><p>Bill shoots a glance at Josie, who shrugs wordlessly. Honestly, it's about time the two men reconcile, even if it's only over their passion for breaking curses. She's definitely not going to get in the way.</p><p>Still sounding a bit surprised, Bill wonders, "What do you want to know?"</p><p>The question makes Ricardo snort in amusement. He darts over a fallen log and graciously turns to extend his arm to Josie, who takes it with a laugh. As Bill follows them over it, Ricardo responds, "Hmm. Ah, I have a question that has often vexed me. You see, it began when I was in Chena Pukara, where I happened to discover a series of scrolls that captured my interest so much that they became the only thing I could think about. I was amazed at the rituals performed in these scrolls and it made me wonder if other cultures have such rituals as well."</p><p>Josie raises a suspicious eyebrow at him. There's a certain tone in his voice that makes her instincts flair up. It's the sort of tone that he uses whenever he's about to say something incredibly lewd.</p><p>Ricardo sighs happily and murmurs, <em>"Querida,</em> I wish you were there to see them. I am sure we would have enjoyed testing them out."</p><p>Yes, he's definitely about to say something lewd.</p><p>"Tell me, English curse-breaker, if you have ever seen Egyptian spells that incite lustful passions," he purrs, throwing an arm around Josie's shoulders as he sends Bill an innocently curious smile.</p><p>Ah, but the way the Englishman's face begins to redden is so very amusing. It is difficult to tell if he is angry or embarrassed. The mystery makes Ricardo's angelic smile widen into a devilish grin.</p><p>"Are you serious?" Bill demands, then turns to Josie and repeats, "Is he <em>serious?"</em></p><p>Josie sighs and sends Ricardo a look that he merely snickers at. Bill's question is quick to make him respond, "Oh, I am <em>very</em> serious. Did you know that it is possible to have sex whilst – "</p><p>"I can't bloody believe you're asking me a question like <em>that,"</em> Bill cuts in, not wanting to hear about the many sexual discoveries Ricardo has made while perusing ancient South American sites.</p><p>His adamant tone makes Ricardo raise an eyebrow. "…What did you <em>think</em> I'd ask about?" he wonders, sounding confused. Josie rolls her eyes at his 'confusion'. It's obvious that he's just messing with Bill, as usual. Honestly, why she thought it was a good idea to let them try to reconcile, she doesn't know. Ricardo is having far too much fun for that.</p><p>Bill sarcastically returns, "Oh I don't know. Maybe an <em>actual question</em> about Egypt." He mutters something that sounds like 'bloody Peruvian' beneath his breath, which frankly only amuses Ricardo all the more.</p><p>"It <em>is</em> a good question and I am very curious about the answer," Ricardo purringly defends, and then leans down to murmur in Josie's ear, "I could write down some of those spells if you'd like to try them out on the Englishman, <em>querida.</em> I am sure that after one night with you, he'd realize the error of his ways."</p><p>The elbow Josie sends into Ricardo's gut barely makes him flinch. Josie sighs at him and ducks out of his arm before he can whisper anything else to her. Honestly.</p><p>After an hour or so of listening to Bill and Ricardo go back and forth in their attempts at asserting their masculinity, tensions have begun to run high again and Josie absolutely can't wait to return to Cajamarca. At least Zanetta has her wits about her. There's no one else who can successfully make Ricardo stop talking and Josie is eager to hear her put him in his place. It's not that she doesn't love Ricardo – he's a steadfast friend who has stuck by her side even when she probably didn't deserve his loyalty, and he always manages to uplift her spirits without fail – but listening to him and Bill is starting to make her go crazy.</p><p>She really doesn't understand their dynamic. One moment, they are exchanging curse-breaking tips and actually having a conversation about their methods and careers; the next moment, they're going at it with sarcastic commentary, usually because of some taunt that Ricardo just can't help but insert into the conversation. It's really all his fault, to be honest, though Josie knows he doesn't mean for his remarks to be taken quite as seriously as Bill ends up doing. This is just how Ricardo is. He lives for those moments when he can toe the line between what is proper and what is improper. It's one of the things that has endeared Josie to him, actually. She appreciates the way he says what's on his mind without bothering to filter it, even when he knows full well that it goes beyond what is polite. Ricardo Vasquez takes everything to new heights without even trying.</p><p>The last ten minutes have been blessedly silent, though. Josie is taking the lead this time, having long decided to try putting some space between her and the two men, though their acerbic comments seem to have died down some time ago. Perhaps they have both grown tired of their constant back and forth. Josie doesn't know but she's glad for it regardless.</p><p>In any case, when they break for lunch at midday and Bill gets out the roll of bandages, Josie is fully expecting Ricardo to drawl something about how attentive Bill is to her. Ricardo doesn't say anything at all, though, as he watches Bill sit down beside Josie. He merely roots through his bag and continues to round up a meal.</p><p>"Let me see your hand," Bill murmurs as he sits beside her. An afternoon of dealing with Ricardo's continued innuendos seem to have made him a bit withdrawn, for his movements are short and to the point when he lays her hand atop his knee and begins unraveling the bandages around her wound. Josie doesn't say anything when he pulls the last of them away and reveals the cut. She keeps her eyes trained on him, studying his handsome face and the endearing way he worries at his lower lip. It's only when he glances up at her that she looks away. It's his turn to study her, and there's something strange in his eyes that makes her almost uncomfortable, but only because she doesn't recognize it.</p><p>"Does it hurt?" he wonders, thumbing over the side of her hand. He looks back down at the deep cut and sighs, "I wish I could just heal it with magic. We're out of the temple now anyway."</p><p>Josie hums and responds, "True, but it's safer to wait until we get back to Cajamarca. If the cut is healed using magic, then the magical boundaries will go back up and we won't be able to properly ward our campsite tonight."</p><p>Bill raises an eyebrow at this and points out, "We weren't able to do that on our way here, either."</p><p>She shrugs, "Yes, but Ricardo and I took shifts to make sure nothing happened."</p><p>At this, Bill's eyebrows raise up even higher. In a slighted tone, he says, "You didn't tell me that – I would have been willing to take a shift too."</p><p>Josie pauses at his tone. Across the small clearing they're in, Ricardo snorts, "You do not know what dangers to look out for, English curse-breaker."</p><p>As expected, Bill looks like he has a few things to say to Ricardo in turn, so Josie quickly inputs, "You know, my hand <em>does</em> hurt, actually."</p><p>Also as expected, this is enough to draw Bill's attention back to her. He sends her a look that tells her he's fully aware of what she's doing, though it doesn't stop him from reaching for the wound-cleaning potion regardless. He silently pours a few drops over the cut, wincing a bit at the way Josie's hand jerks in his from the slight pain. For a few minutes, they merely sit there together as they wait for the potion to do its job, then he reaches for a fresh bandage and begins to wrap it around his palm. His movements are so gentle that it's almost as if he thinks she is made of glass, breakable and in need of protecting. Normally she might scoff at that – she's a grown woman after all, and this isn't the first blood sacrifice she's made – but there's something quiet growing in the spaces between them that seems too precious to break, so she remains silent.</p><p>"My mum wants you to come to dinner soon," Bill tells her as he gingerly wraps her hand. His eyes are focused on the work at hand – almost too focused, as if he's unsure of what her reaction will be to his words and is happy to be distracted with his task.</p><p>It's just as well, because Josie feels a bit conflicted. She bites the inside of her cheek and hedges, "Yeah? That's nice of her."</p><p>Bill pauses for a fraction of a second. The pause is nearly unnoticeable. Josie probably would have missed it entirely, if they weren't sitting so close and she didn't know him so well.</p><p>He clears his throat and adds, "She's worried about you and you know how she gets when she's worried." This time, he hazards a glance at her and raises an eyebrow.</p><p>Josie chuckles. "Yeah, I know. She doesn't have to, though. I'm – "</p><p>"She'll always worry about you, Jos. You're like a surrogate daughter to her," Bill gently interrupts, staring at her with that curious light in his eye. The one he had before, when they had first sat down. The one she doesn't recognize, because she doesn't think she's ever seen it there, quietly shining at her in the blue of his gaze. Her brow furrows slightly, but try as she might, she can't quite decipher the meaning behind it.</p><p>In a slow voice, he adds, "Charlie was just in England a few weeks ago too. He asked after you."</p><p>The turn of this conversation is only serving to confuse her all the more. It's not necessarily strange, of course, talking about his many family members. Josie knows them all quite well. The summers she'd spent at the Burrow had made certain of that. Since Bill and Charlie have always been close, Josie knows Charlie the best as well. She's always appreciated the second eldest's love of the outdoors. His adventurous spirit had endeared her to him. She recalls many moments spent in Bill and Charlie's bedroom, putting pins on the large map that used to span the wall between their beds as the three of them gushed about where they wanted to travel to and how much of the world they wanted to see. It was the best sort of competition, sparking their dreams of the future like nothing else can.</p><p>"How's he doing?" Josie wonders, not sure what else to say. It would be a lie to claim that she doesn't miss the Weasleys terribly. It's been months since she's seen any of them besides Bill.</p><p>A shiver catches her when Bill's fingers lightly graze over the inside of her wrist. Another when he sends her that quiet smile she loves so much. It only makes her remember why she had distanced herself from his family to begin with, which fills her with mixed emotions.</p><p>"He's fine. He wouldn't shut up about the latest dragon they recently took in. Something about its wings being too damaged to fly," Bill shrugs, then adds, "You know how he gets when it comes to dragons. It's almost impossible to make him stop talking."</p><p>Josie laughs and responds, "I wish I'd gotten to see him before he went back to Romania…"</p><p>They fall silent after that, each in their own thoughts. Josie thinks about how much she misses the Weasleys, and Bill thinks about what Charlie had said to him.</p><p>
  <em>If you ask me, I'd say you've spent too much time trying to convince yourself that your relationship with Josie is –</em>
</p><p>Is what? It's only <em>ever</em> been a friendship. There's nothing more to it and there doesn't have to be. Impatient with the direction of his thoughts, Bill ties off the bandage and reaches back into his bag to pull out a pain potion for her. When she sees it, though, Josie waves her hand and says, "Oh don't bother, I've got something, actually…where did I put it?"</p><p>Bill watches in confusion as she begins to riffle through her bag. She seems to grow more panicked the longer she looks, though when she finally pulls out the small vial of light blue liquid, her panic drains away instantly.</p><p>"Merlin. Thought I left it in my leather jacket for a moment," Josie exhales.</p><p>Bill raises an eyebrow at the tiny vial and asks, "What is that?"</p><p>Her response is almost breezy when she says, "It's a pain reliever." She uncorks the vial and adds, "It's amazing. Really powerful stuff – "</p><p>"<em>Querida,</em> I have prepared lunch for you," Ricardo says, suddenly arriving at her side. His movements are nothing short of flamboyant as he shows off the sandwich he had put together. He looks rather pleased with himself. A smug smile has captured his mouth, and it grows even more smug when he turns to Bill and purrs, "You can make your own, English curse-breaker. I only cater to sexy women."</p><p>Bill, though, hardly seems to hear Ricardo. He's too busy staring at the small vial in Josie's hand. There's a grave sort of light in his eyes that has Ricardo raising an eyebrow at him, rather confused that Bill has not gotten all frustrated with the latest attempt to annoy him. He turns to see what he's staring at, only for his eyebrows to raise ever higher.</p><p>Josie doesn't seem to understand why both men are staring at her. She sends them weird looks as she fills the dropper with Moondew essence, but she doesn't get to actually take any of it before Ricardo is snatching it from her hands. This time, when she looks, his expression has also turned strangely grave.</p><p>Now, Ricardo tries his very best not to be serious when he can help it. That is not to say that he <em>can't,</em> or <em>isn't,</em> when the situation calls for it, but he much prefers to make light of things whenever possible. However, the expression that is quickly overtaking his features as he studies the small vial isn't just serious; it's verging on thunderous. Josie has known him for years now, but even she doesn't think she's ever seen him look quite so angry.</p><p>He lifts the vial to his nose and takes a whiff of it, then, pursing his mouth, he demands, "Why do you have Moondrops?" His voice is puckered with stressful anger as he turns his eyes to her.</p><p>Josie is confused. "It's Moondew," she corrects, brow furrowed. She looks altogether bewildered, which only seems to make Ricardo bewildered as well. Off to the side, Bill watches as Ricardo closes his fingers tightly around the vial, which is so small that it quickly becomes engulfed in his grip.</p><p>"Moondew is the main ingredient, yes, but it also contains aconite and wormwood," Ricardo stiffly informs her, and peers down at her as if he's expecting this revelation to shock her.</p><p>Josie, though, just continues looking confused until Bill murmurs, "You never <em>were</em> very good at Potions, were you? Josie, when Moondew is mixed with Wormwood, it creates a toxic poison."</p><p>Josie sends him a blank look. It's not until Ricardo crouches down in front of her and overturns the entire vial onto a small plant growing in the soil nearby that she reacts – with a vengeance.</p><p>"Ricardo! How could – why did you <em>do</em> that?!" she demands angrily, lurching forward in an attempt to stop him.</p><p>She's too late, though, for Ricardo is already leaning back and impatiently saying, <em>"Watch,</em> Josie."</p><p>Josie glares at him for all of five seconds, until she starts to see the plant begin to shrivel up. Then, her glare fades into an expression of concerned surprise. The small leaves curl inward and lose their vibrant green. As the roots drink up the Moondew, the stalk quickly becomes ashy and grey, as if a disease as taken hold of it and is spreading up through the veins, darkening and destroying as it goes. It all happens so fast. Within a matter of seconds, the entire plant is little more than a withered black skeleton.</p><p>A stilted silence fills the clearing then as Josie stares at the plant in horror, and Ricardo and Bill stare at her.</p><p>"…This is a powerful drug called Moondrops," Ricardo quietly tells her. "It is highly addictive and, as you can see, very deadly in large dosages."</p><p>His voice is softer now, and his expression far less thunderous. Josie's shock makes it obvious that she hadn't known what she was taking. If she <em>had</em> known, he'd have other words for her – angrier words, demanding why she is resorting to black market drugs – but, as it is…</p><p>Ricardo puts a hand on her knee and gently asks, "Where did you get this, <em>querida?"</em></p><p>Bill is also very interested in hearing her answer, for he leans forward and studies her shocked expression carefully. He thinks he may already know, to be honest. He has, after all, seen Josie in Knockturn Alley twice now. When Josie sends him a quick, hurried glance, he figures that he's probably correct.</p><p>"I…I got it from a woman who said she could…help me," Josie mumbles, and shoots another glance at Bill. This time there's something different in her eyes, though. Something secretive that Bill doesn't much like, especially when she turns to Ricardo and sends him a silently pleading look.</p><p>Ricardo's eyes darken just so. He glances over at Bill too, purses his lips, and mutters, <em>"Deberías decírselo."</em></p><p>Josie purses her mouth right back but doesn't respond.</p><p>"Help you with what?" Bill demands, feeling as if he's missing something. It's an unpleasant sensation, really. Josie usually tells him everything. He doesn't think she's ever kept a secret from him before, but he knows that Ricardo is aware of something that he isn't. Just one look at the perceptive way Ricardo's eyes lock with Josie's is enough proof of that.</p><p>Furrowing his brow, Bill prompts, "Josie?"</p><p>He doesn't like this feeling of being left in the dark. Moreover, he especially doesn't like the thought that she has trusted Ricardo bloody Vasquez with whatever secret she's keeping. That she hadn't gone to <em>him</em> grates on his nerves for some reason. It's not even about being best mates. It's about wanting to help her. Wanting to make sure that she's alright.</p><p>"…It's nothing, Bill, I've just been feeling under the weather lately. I went to see if I could find something inexpensive to treat it and…and I ran into this witch who offered to give me the first vial free, so I…" she trails off, rubbing her forehead and leaning over.</p><p>Is that why Catalina had given her the first vial free of charge? She obviously knew that she was giving Josie an illegal drug. The real question isn't whether she was aware of her actions, but what she had hoped to gain from them. Apprehension blossoms through Josie as she thinks of the last conversation she'd had with Catalina, just before leaving for Peru.</p><p>
  <em>I'm sure some of those precious jewels would be enough. See to it that you return with payment the moment you arrive back to England…</em>
</p><p>"And that witch was from Knockturn Alley, wasn't she," Bill says, finally broaching the subject. He can't keep quiet about it anymore, especially when it's clear that Josie isn't making the best decisions these days. "It's <em>dangerous,</em> Josie. You could've gotten yourself killed, going to a place like that. You're a muggleborn."</p><p>Josie's immediate response is to impatiently snap, "Yes, I know I'm a muggleborn, Bill." Then, when she sees the worry on his face, she groans, "I'm sorry…I…Merlin, I really didn't know. I thought it was a healing potion."</p><p>It's obvious enough that she's being genuine. Her eyes are still shuttered over with belated surprise, and when she turns her gaze to the wilted, black remnants of the plant, an ill expression overcomes her. Honestly, why is she so shocked at this turn of events? It's just one more impossible stroke of bad luck. She should be used to this by now.</p><p>Ricardo squeezes her knee again before standing up. His voice is a bit lighter when he says, "Well, it does not matter now, does it?" He raises an eyebrow at Josie as if to challenge her, and she sighs, running a hand through her hair and messing it up.</p><p>Bill frowns. "It <em>does</em> matter. You could have gotten addicted to this stuff if you kept taking it, Jos."</p><p>"But she will not take any more," Ricardo cuts in. "Josie is now aware of the danger and she knows better than to go back to this woman."</p><p>Again, his eyes are subtly challenging. Josie sends a stubborn look right back and his eyebrow raises a little higher in response. Oh, she knows that expression well enough to understand that this isn't over. Ricardo has more to say on the matter, but it's obvious that he'd prefer to say it without Bill listening in. She's grateful that he's respecting her wishes to keep Bill out of it, but she's definitely not looking forward to having the rest of this discussion. Ricardo Vasquez doesn't make a habit of worrying over her, but every once in a while, he breaks his own rules.</p><p>"Let us have lunch and then continue on," Ricardo suggests as he pointedly hands Josie the sandwich he had made. She takes it with a sigh, and he reaches out to ruffle her hair a bit before straightening out. <em>"Hablaremos más tarde," </em>he tells her. It sounds like a warning.</p><p>As Ricardo turns back to their bags to prepare his own lunch, Bill studies Josie's face. After learning that she had been unknowingly poisoning herself for weeks now, she's not very hungry. He watches her pick at her food for a moment before sighing, "Eat, Josie. We've got a long way to walk."</p><p>He puts a hand on her shoulder and sends her a tentative smile. She returns it just as tentatively.</p><p>"…I really didn't know, Bill," she quietly tells him. She shouldn't be so worried about his thoughts on all this, but she is. Of course she is. Bill is…everything to her.</p><p>He shakes his head at her worry and just as quietly responds, "I know, Jos. Just eat."</p><p>She sighs again and nods. The thick tension that's been growing in the group for the last several minutes is promptly and suddenly broken, though, when Ricardo returns with another sandwich and hands it to Bill, who looks quite confused.</p><p>"…I thought you only catered to <em>sexy women,"</em> Bill drawls, eyeing the sandwich as if he's afraid that Ricardo had spit in it or something.</p><p>Ricardo had obviously been waiting for him to say this, because he immediately puts a hand on his chest and innocently responds, "Do not tell me that you have never been mistaken for a woman before, English curse-breaker. Granted, I would not describe you as 'sexy', but the long hair does give me pause."</p><p>Ricardo's words break the remainder of the tension so thoroughly that Josie finds herself laughing a bit at the indignant expression that overcomes Bill's face. He grabs the sandwich with an annoyed mutter and Ricardo snickers.</p><p>"You do have gorgeous hair, Bill," Josie teases, thankful for the distraction. "I've always been jealous of it."</p><p>Bill sends her a glowering look and just rolls his eyes, muttering, "Bloody Peruvian," under his breath.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Translations:</strong>
</p><p>"<em>¿Cómo es posible esto?" </em><em>– How is this possible?</em></p><p>"<em>No entiendo por qué lo amas." – I don't know why you love him.</em></p><p>"<em>¿Perdón? ¿Estoy hablando Español? No lo había notado." </em><em>– Pardon? Am I speaking Spanish? I hadn't noticed.</em></p><p>"<em>No es posible la amistad entre un hombre y una mujer. Tarde o temprano, uno de ellos se dará cuenta de cuántas ganas tiene de tirarse al otro." </em><em>– It isn't possible for a man and a woman to be friends. Sooner or later, one of them will realize how much they want to fuck the other.</em></p><p>"<em>Estoy maldecida." – I'm cursed.</em></p><p>"<em>Te creo, pero me parece que podría haber otra explicación." </em><em>– I believe you, but I think there could be another explanation.</em></p><p>"<em>Ten cuidado." – Just be careful.</em></p><p>"<em>¿Por qué lo amas, cariño?" – Why do you love him, darling?</em></p><p>"<em>Él es la persona más generosa que conozco… Es mi major amigo, y me conoce mejor de lo que me conozco a mí misma… </em><em>¿Por qué no lo amaría?" – He's the most generous person I know…he's my best friend and he knows me better than I know myself.</em></p><p>"<em>Me pregunto qué diría si pudiera entenderte."</em><em> – I wonder what he would say if he understood your words.</em></p><p>"<em>Probablemente diría que estoy loca.</em><em>" – He'd probably say I was crazy.</em></p><p>"<em>Él no se molestaría si supiera lo que acabas de decir." </em><em>– He wouldn't be upset if he knew what you just said.</em></p><p>"<em>Deberías decírselo." </em><em>– You should just tell him.</em></p><p>"<em>Hablaremos más tarde." </em><em>– We will talk later.</em></p><p>
  <em>Mauricio Moreno's correspondence to Ricardo:</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Vasquez,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I do not know of this curse you speak of, but I remember Josephine. She is a good woman who can put up with your shit. I will do this for her but I expect payment in return. Nothing is free, my friend. My brother is in Mexico on an assignment, but I will contact him. I will await you in Lima.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mauricio Moreno</em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Never Let Ricardo Talk About the Sphinx</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hope you're all having a lovely week!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  <strong>Chapter Ten | Never Let Ricardo Talk About the Sphinx</strong>
</p><p>Alas, Josie can't avoid talking to Ricardo forever. When they make camp that night, she knows it's only a matter of time before he pulls her aside. He's been sending her glances all throughout the process of warding off their campsite and even Bill has started noticing.</p><p>"Why does he keep looking at you?" he mumbles as he helps her roll out the sleeping bags. He casts a disparaging glance at Ricardo, who merely sends Bill his usual devilish smile before turning back to murmuring incantations around the parameter of the small clearing they had stayed in on their way to the temple. Ricardo has an impeccable sense of direction and had led them to it with only a few small mishaps. Traveling through the rainforest does take some experience, of which Ricardo Vasquez has in droves.</p><p>Since the magical boundaries around the temple are still down, and will be until Josie's wound is fully healed, the wards will ensure that they'll all be able to sleep through the night without taking shifts. Of course, Bill hadn't even realized that Ricardo and Josie had taken shifts at all, during that first night – something he's still a little bitter about, to be honest. His fellow curse-breakers clearly have a way of doing things that is no doubt the result of the many times they had partnered up on previous expeditions. Bill doesn't like feeling out of the loop, but he can't deny that their methods are efficient, if not a little overboard at times. Course, he puts that down to Ricardo Vasquez being…well, Ricardo Vasquez.</p><p>Josie casts a glance at the Peruvian curse-breaker and sighs, "He's probably still upset with me for being such an idiot. I guess I can't blame him. I'd be angry too, if I found out he was doing illegal drugs."</p><p>The disparaging tone of her voice has Bill pausing in his work to look up at her. He feels a twinge of something deep in his chest upon hearing this. He's not entirely sure if it's exasperation at Josie for beating herself up about the Moondrops, or if it's something else entirely. That she would be upset if Ricardo was in a similar situation only proves that her relationship with the Peruvian is incredibly close, and Bill, well, doesn't really know how he feels about that. The thought of them together makes him feel some errant, wayward emotion that feels almost like jealousy, but Josie is her own woman, after all. So what if she has history with Ricardo? It's clear that whatever they shared in the past is no longer relevant. Ricardo had proven that in the temple, when he had told her outright that he's no longer in love with her.</p><p>Bill bites back a scoff at the thought of Ricardo <em>ever</em> having been in love with Josie. Honestly, she needs someone better than the bloody Peruvian. Someone less flighty, who can give her a stable home and the love that she deserves. In his mind, there's no man alive who is good enough for Josie Devonport – Ricardo Vasquez least of all.</p><p>Of course, Bill doesn't know Ricardo like Josie does. He doesn't know how loyal the Peruvian is when it comes to the people he calls friends. He doesn't know how serious Ricardo can be, when it comes to loving someone. He doesn't know that Ricardo has always wanted to settle down, only that he could never find the right person, before. He doesn't know just how hard Ricardo had tried to be the right man for Josie, either.</p><p>That's the thing about love. You could meet a wonderful person who clicks with you so well that it feels as if you've known them your whole life, and spend hours with them talking about things you've never talked about to anyone else, and wish that you could convince your heart to open itself to theirs because they just seem so incredibly perfect for you – but it doesn't always work that way. Sometimes, your heart just knows what you need better than the rest of you does, and it refuses to be swayed.</p><p>Bill's been there before. Of course, he isn't fully aware of that in this moment, but he has.</p><p>"Josie, help me collect firewood," Ricardo calls as he finishes up the last ward and tucks his wand into the pocket of his linen button-up. He casts her a glance over his shoulder and lifts an eyebrow at her reluctant expression before darting into the trees to wait for her.</p><p>Josie sighs at Bill, not looking very eager. Bill only purses his mouth and glances over at where Ricardo had disappeared.</p><p>"You don't have to talk to him. It's none of his business anyway," he mutters, feeling a bit annoyed that Ricardo is suddenly being so overbearing about this.</p><p>Josie, though, just sighs again and rises to her feet. "He's just worried about me. It won't take long," she responds. She takes a few steps before turning back and adding, "Don't leave the campsite. We've been lucky not to have run into anything too dangerous, but the rainforest at night isn't a safe place to be."</p><p>She's already walking forward again before she's even finished speaking, which is probably just as well, because the frown on Bill's face probably would have given her pause. Oh, it's not because he doesn't appreciate her warning. He's frowning because he doesn't understand why Ricardo can't just say what he has to say in front of him. That – <em>bloody</em> Peruvian.</p><hr/><p>"Ricardo?"</p><p>"Over here, <em>querida,"</em> comes Ricardo's response. When she turns to look, she sees that he is indeed collecting firewood, as he had said, and rolls her eyes at him.</p><p>"Do we <em>really</em> need to talk about this? I didn't know it was a drug, Ricardo – " she begins, only for Ricardo to wave her words away.</p><p>"It is not that," he interrupts quietly. "I am concerned about this woman you spoke of and did not think you'd appreciate it if I brought it up around your long-haired lover."</p><p>Josie sends him an annoyed look at hearing that last bit, but doesn't bother correcting him. Ricardo is well aware of her relationship with Bill and the fact that in his eyes, they're only good friends. There's no need to rehash her and Bill's entire friendship when she's already done so multiple times over the years.</p><p>Ricardo sets his pile of firewood down before straightening up and crossing his arms. His expression is a bit contemplative when he murmurs, "Tell me everything."</p><p>Josie sighs and stuffs her hands into her pockets. "Well, it started at a pub," she begins.</p><p>Ricardo, though he's being quite serious at the moment, can't help but snicker, "As it always does."</p><p>He earns an amused look for this. Josie laughs a bit and continues, "I was piss drunk. All this bad luck from the curse? It's making my life hell, Ricardo. So anyway I was having a really awful day and ended up getting pretty sloshed." She sighs and starts moving about to add to Ricardo's pile of firewood. As she does, she explains, "I met this witch there. Catalina Aceves. She gave me her business card and I ended up going to see her. I knew it was probably a bad idea, but she claimed to be of Incan descent and said she could help me."</p><p>Throughout her explanation, Ricardo's eyebrows lift ever higher. When she gets to the point about Catalina claiming Incan descent, though, his disbelief is even more palatable. There are indeed Peruvians who can make such claims, but they live in the Andes Mountains and still practice many aspects of the Incan culture. Perhaps it is possible that Catalina can in fact trace her ancestry back that far, but for her to randomly appear in the pub Josie had been in, at just the right time? It seems quite sketchy.</p><p>"Josie," he begins, but she quickly cuts him off.</p><p>"I know, I was skeptical too, but she told me that she could help me break the curse and I was desperate. She said that once I collect all the coins, she can perform a ritual on them that will break the curse," she hurriedly says.</p><p>Ricardo sighs. "This woman sounds like a fraud. I have already told you that there is no such thing as cursed gold. More people would have such a curse if there was," he points out.</p><p>Josie has written to him about it several times by now, so Ricardo is mostly caught up about her new belief that her curse has to do with the gold coins. He's also expressed his thoughts on the matter – namely that she's buying into fairytales that have no basis in reality. But he doesn't understand. She's not making up this curse. If she was, then the doctors at St. Mungo's would have been able to diagnose her many illnesses. There would be a reason for her bloody noses and her many aches and pains. There would be an explanation for why she's coughing up blood and –</p><p>"Look, just see for yourself, okay?" she impatiently says, and begins to pull her shirt off.</p><p>Ricardo's eyebrows lift a touch more, but he doesn't stop her. Truth be told, he's seen her in a lot less, and he hardly blinks an eye at the way she tosses her shirt onto the rainforest floor and stands before him in just her plain black bra. Under any other circumstance, he'd surely have one of his many innuendos ready for a moment such as this, but to be honest, whatever witty sentence he may or may not have prepared is utterly swept away when his eyes lock onto the skin above her heart.</p><p>"<em>Querida,</em> you…you are…" he furrows his brows and closes the distance between them with three long strides. He's beside her in an instant, reaching out to trace the dark veins as a frown captures his mouth. He stares at the blackened veins for one tremulous moment before raising his eyes to hers. "Is it the Moondrops, perhaps?" he wonders, trying to find a more logical explanation.</p><p>Josie, though, shakes her head. "This started months ago, way before I met Catalina. It's the curse, Ricardo. I'm not making it up."</p><p>He exhales deeply and nods, mouth pursed. "I believe that this is indeed a curse, Josie, but…I am still unsure if it is because of the gold. I have been to many temples and I have never heard of such tales being real."</p><p>Josie's voice is tinted with impatience when she responds, "What <em>else</em> could it be? Ricardo, there's no other explanation – " but that is as far as she gets, because that's when their private conversation becomes a little less private.</p><p>Ricardo's worried expression immediately transforms when his mouth quirks up into a smug smile and he drawls, "Did you need something, English curse-breaker?" He pulls his hand away from Josie's chest and raises an eyebrow at Bill, who is standing several meters behind them with an uncomfortable look blazing over his face.</p><p>Josie promptly stiffens. She glances at him over her shoulder and, seeing the way he's staring at her bare back, gasps, "Bill!" before reaching down to grab her shirt. As she hastily pulls it over her head, mortification fills her.</p><p>Merlin, why? <em>Why?</em></p><p>"I…er, I just – I…sorry," he hastily says, and turns on his heel to walk back to the campsite without another word. As he leaves, Ricardo turns his raised eyebrow onto her.</p><p>Josie just closes her eyes and groans, "I'm so embarrassed I could die."</p><p>Ricardo sighs at her. "It is his fault for being so nosy. In any case, I don't think you should go to see that woman again. I will ask my contacts about this ritual you mentioned to see if such a thing exists, and if it does, we will get someone more qualified to do it. I do not trust this woman who hands out Moondrops and does not tell you what they are."</p><p>Josie releases a deep exhale and mumbles, "Fine…in the meantime, I think I'll go off myself so I don't have to face Bill."</p><p>In lieu of the conversation they just had, Ricardo doesn't seem to find her joke amusing. He sends her a look that makes her groan again and merely shakes his head at her. As he throws an arm around her shoulders, he responds, "It is not as if he saw you naked, <em>querida</em>. Though, I'm sure he is imagining it now that he's had a small look."</p><p>This naturally doesn't make Josie feel any better, because she just elbows him in the side before wrangling herself out of his arm. Even though she thinks he's joking, however, Ricardo is being quite serious. After all, she hadn't seen the way Bill had looked at her when she'd stood with her bare back to him, but Ricardo had. Ricardo Vasquez doesn't claim to know <em>everything,</em> of course, but he <em>does</em> know what jealousy looks like, and her English curse-breaker had quite a lot of it in his eyes just now.</p><hr/><p>The resulting trip back to Cajamarca is, expectantly, very awkward. Well, for Bill and Josie anyway. Ricardo is immune to awkwardness.</p><p>"Mmm, <em>querida,</em> do you remember that time when I took you against the tree on our way through the Amazon?" Ricardo purrs, just loudly enough for Bill to overhear. "I still shiver when I recall how glorious your bosom was in the moonlight – <em>oomph!</em> Ahaha, there's no need to be quite so violent, <em>querida.</em> Save it for the bedroom, as I always say – "</p><p>"Would you shut up?" Bill snaps from behind them, glowering at the back of Ricardo's perfectly tousled head.</p><p>Bill doesn't see the devilish grin that promptly spreads across Ricardo's face. He doesn't shut up, of course. He's currently on a mission.</p><p>"It is difficult to find a bosom as glorious as yours, you know, <em>querida</em>. I do not discriminate, of course, but I have never seen a pair of breasts as perfectly shaped – "</p><p>"I am going to murder you," Josie threatens.</p><p>Bill would love it if she did, because he's currently feeling the inclination towards murder as well.</p><p>"There is no need to resort to death threats. I was merely making an insightful comment," Ricardo shrugs, as he holds a large fern out of the way for Josie. The moment she ducks under it, Ricardo lets it go and it promptly swings into Bill's face. Ricardo obviously notices, but holds back his snicker as he spins on his heel to follow his <em>querida</em>, leaving Bill to angrily thrust the fern away as he follows.</p><p>"An <em>insightful</em> <em>comment?"</em> Bill repeats incredulously. "You're talking about my best friend's – " here, he cuts himself off, apparently not wanting to say the word 'breasts', especially not since Josie has turned around to spear him with a sharp look. He clears his throat and mutters, "Bloody Peruvian," under his breath.</p><p>Ricardo raises an eyebrow and hums, "Ah yes. Best friends. I suppose it is awkward for you to hear about all the ways I have enjoyed Josie's company. You probably do not want to know how many times we have christened the rainforest."</p><p>The glare Bill sends him then would surely make any man freeze – if Ricardo had actually turned to look, of course. As it is, he's already caught up with Josie and is even now saying something else, because the bloody Peruvian just can't ever seem to stop talking.</p><p>"Ricardo, <em>why</em> are you trying to make him jealous?" Josie hisses at him in a low voice. "You know he doesn't feel that way about me."</p><p>Ah. Yes. Subtlety has never been his strong suit. Ricardo's ability to say exactly what is on his mind is one of his charms. Usually. Sacrifices must be made, though, in order to make the English curse-breaker realize how stupid he has been. If it requires lewd commentary in order to incite his jealousy, well, Ricardo is not afraid to supply it.</p><p>"Josie, you are a woman," Ricardo tells her just as lowly. "You do not see what I see."</p><p>Josie rolls her eyes at him and raises her voice to say, "We'll be able to apparate back to Cajamarca soon, Bill. We're nearly out of the temple's range, I think."</p><p>Behind them, Bill releases a breath and mutters, <em>"Good."</em> He says something else about being rid of Ricardo once and for all, so she decides not to tell him that Ricardo will actually be going to Zanetta's place with them. He must have forgotten the little fact that Ricardo happens to be Zanetta's son.</p><p>The night before had been incredibly awkward. Bill could hardly bring himself to look at her when Josie had returned to the campsite. His face had been red – undoubtedly a mixture of embarrassment for having seen her topless and anger for having seen her with Ricardo. That he doesn't get along with the Peruvian isn't exactly a secret. They are a bit too different to coexist peacefully. The awkwardness hasn't exactly let up yet, and by the time they are able to apparate back to the magical quarter of Cajamarca, it only gets worse.</p><p>Here is why:</p><p>Josie has known the Vasquez family for years now. Zanetta is practically a mother figure to her and Josie considers Isidora to be a sister. There was a time when Marco had even expected that he would be welcoming Josie into their family officially. Even though Josie's relationship with Ricardo is distant history now, Zanetta and Marco still view her as a sort of surrogate daughter. Upon assuming that Bill and Josie are engaged, they have made plans. Plans involving filling their house with friends and throwing a huge engagement party the moment Josie and Bill step inside.</p><p>The bustling, crowded streets of Cajamarca are quiet compared to the Vasquez household – something the three of them are unable to ignore, when Ricardo makes his way up the steps to the front door and throws it open.</p><p>"<em>¡El hijo pródigo ha vuelto!" </em>he calls loudly, and the promptly frowns when none of his family seem to take notice of him. The sound of many voices coming from deeper within make him raise an eyebrow. He turns to Josie with an expression of confusion, but she merely shrugs, just as confused.</p><p>Ricardo sighs and dramatically pouts, "I see them once a month, if that, and they never seem to care."</p><p>This is a lie, of course, which Zanetta is quick to prove when she suddenly bustles forward, catches sight of Ricardo, and exclaims, <em>"¡Ricardo!"</em> The matriarch throws her arms around her youngest son and delves off into a flurry of Spanish. Ricardo grimaces playfully at Josie and Bill.</p><p>Zanetta sends a warm smile at her son and then turns to Josie<em>. "Invité a algunos amigos a cenar. Un compromiso entre dos personas no es algo que sucede todos los días." </em>She takes Josie and Bill's hands and gushes, <em>"¡Quería celebrar!"</em></p><p>Bill's expression is blank and baffled. Josie's is horrified. She stares at Zanetta for several seconds before she opens her mouth to respond, but before she can, Zanetta is bustling back down the hall and loudly scolding several of her grandchildren, who are trying to get into the bowl of floo powder that sits above the fireplace. As Josie turns to look at the rather large gathering beyond the door, Ricardo begins to snicker. She scowls at him, but it only makes him laugh all the harder.</p><p>"I feel like I'm missing something," Bill mutters, raising an eyebrow at Ricardo and Josie. He crosses his arms over his chest and leans against the threshold, once again feeling rather left in the dark.</p><p>Through his snickering, Ricardo snorts, "You always are, English curse-breaker."</p><p>Bill rolls his eyes, but before he can wrangle Ricardo into yet another argument, Josie sighs, "Zanetta and Isidora have been plotting."</p><p>Ricardo hums. "It is this one's fault," he shrugs, jerking a thumb at Bill. "You told them you have claimed Josie."</p><p>Josie gives him a look and reiterates, "You told them we were <em>engaged."</em></p><p>As realization slowly begins to dawn, Bill pushes off from the threshold and splutters, "I told them <em>I </em>was engaged!"</p><p>Ricardo smirks, "It is not surprising that my mother jumped to conclusions." He sighs and breezily brags, "You should have seen her face when I told her I had asked Josie to marry <em>me.</em> She invited a lot more people."</p><p>Bill scowls. "Well that's because you're her son."</p><p>"No, it is because she wanted Josie to marry a smart, strong Peruvian, like everyone should," Ricardo shrugs. He sighs again. "It is a shame. I am sure my mother wishes Josie had changed her mind."</p><p>Josie rolls her eyes at him. She takes one look at the indignant expression blazing over Bill's face and sighs, "Come on. We might as well get this over with." Then she reaches out to take Bill's arm and pulls him the rest of the way into the house.</p><p>"…Can't we just tell them that this is all a misunderstanding?" he asks as Josie leads him down the hall. As they approach the music and festivities, he seems to grow increasingly wary. This is most definitely out of his comfort zone.</p><p>Josie shoots him a look and quietly responds, "Zanetta's just invited the whole neighborhood. We are not going to make her look bad in front of everyone. Just go along with it."</p><p>Bill groans, "I didn't mean for this to happen…"</p><p>She sighs at him. "I know, Bill. Just…try have fun. This is a party."</p><p>It is indeed. The moment the three of them enter the sitting room, it's as if their presence sets everyone into a flurry of motion. Iridora, who is balancing Freira in her arms, promptly cries, <em>"Aquí están!"</em>, and bustles forward to kiss Josie's cheek. She throws a wide smile at Bill and, after a moment's contemplation, pulls him into a one-armed hug. Little Freira takes full advantage of Bill's sudden proximity to grab at his hair, which quickly gets tangled in her fisted hands.</p><p>Josie coughs back a laugh as Isidora draws back, not realizing that her daughter has a fistful of Bill's long hair clenched between her small fingers. Bill cringes painfully, Isidora immediately begins to tut at Freira, and Josie steps in to attempt reconciliation. After some maneuvering, Bill's hair is freed and little Freira is not at all happy for it, because she begins to cry as she reaches out her small arms to Bill with a look of betrayal upon her face. Isidora begins to bounce her on her hip with an exasperated expression, and eventually retreats into the kitchen, where it is a bit quieter. Throughout all this, congratulations are pelted upon Bill and Josie, introductions are made, and Josie struggles to translate everything over to Bill as Ricardo watches lazily from the background, not being at all helpful. Josie sends him a look, to which he merely shrugs and winks before getting roped into a conversation by Mateo and Gregorio. His brother and brother-in-law pull him into a very macho hug that includes several affable slaps and a few friendly insults just to be thorough.</p><p>As Ricardo drawls back some friendly insults of his own, Bill hooks his arm around Josie's and says, "You had better not abandon me."</p><p>Josie rolls her eyes at him. "Oh relax. Let me introduce you to Leonardo. He owns the herbology shop on the first floor and I'm sure he'd love to talk to you about your travels."</p><p>It's not that Bill doesn't want to mingle or anything. He's confident enough to hold his own and wouldn't call himself an introvert who shies away from conversing with strangers. It's just – he has absolutely no idea what everyone is saying. The rapid Spanish that flies from everyone's lips is completely lost on him. Still, he lets Josie pull him across the room to where a tall, dark haired man is standing, speaking to Marco.</p><p>"Leonardo, how have you been?" Josie wonders. She pulls him a bit closer and sends Leonardo a smile, which is quickly returned.</p><p>"Josie<em>, ¡felicidades!</em> I am very happy for you and your new fiancé. You must be Bill. Zanetta has been telling us all about you," Leonardo says. He turns to Bill and holds out his hand. As Bills reaches forward to shake it, he leans in and adds, "It has mainly been about how long your hair is."</p><p>Leonardo turns to repeat this to Marco in Spanish, who barks out a laugh and leans forward to slap Bill on the shoulder.</p><p>"Oh believe me, my mum has plenty to say about my hair," Bill returns, feeling at once at ease in Leonardo's presence. It isn't just because the man speaks English, but also because he has quite a calming aura about him. He has kind eyes that seem to reflect the wisdom of his years, and apparently, a thirst for knowledge.</p><p>"I am told that you break curses," Leonardo says, drawing Bill into the fold. "You have surely been to many places."</p><p>Right. This is much better. Bill could talk about curse-breaking all day. Josie watches fondly as he begins to tell Leonardo about Egypt and quietly sidles away without his notice. By the time he does realize she's gone several minutes later, he no longer feels quite as uncomfortable. Well, until Ricardo decides to ambush the conversation.</p><p>"<em>Viejo," </em>Ricardo gruffly greets, appearing beside Marco. He sends his father an almost imperious expression, as if he's cross with him. Marco does the same, glowering at Ricardo for several long moments. Leonardo leans back to watch, looking strangely amused.</p><p>The staring match lasts for several seconds more, before Marco shakes his head at his son and the two of them randomly decide to hug it out. Bill is obviously confused by this, since a moment ago it had seemed as if they were genuinely angry with each other – until Leonardo chuckles, "Ricardo sows drama wherever he goes."</p><p>At this, Ricardo happily agrees, "Ah, but life would not be nearly as interesting without me, Leo."</p><p>Leonardo smiles with a shake of his head, and reaches over to clasp his hand with Ricardo in greeting.</p><p>"I see Josie has left you to the old men," Ricardo drawls, glancing at Bill with mirthful eyes. He crosses his arms again and sighs, "I believe she is in the kitchen telling Isidora about your wand."</p><p>Bill sits up a little straighter and sends him a look which is completely and unapologetically ignored.</p><p>"What is this you are talking about?" Leonardo asks in confusion, glancing between Ricardo and Bill. Marco merely takes a seat in the armchair he had been occupying before his son had come over and leans back, not appearing to be paying them much mind.</p><p>"Josie had to borrow his wand because hers is in need of repairing," Ricardo shrugs. He is the epitome of innocence when he says, "She was having trouble with it, though. I do not think the Englishman's magic was up to par, as they say." He flashes a devilishly polite smile at Bill, fighting back snickers at the way Bill's face has grown a touch warmer.</p><p>Leonardo isn't convinced of Ricardo's innocence, of course. He's known the Vasquez family for many years now. He raises an eyebrow at Ricardo and says, "I am not sure I want to know what you are <em>really</em> referring to."</p><p>Ricardo shifts his innocent devil smile to Leonardo, as if he has no idea what he's talking about. "I am merely saying that Josie requires a wand that fits in her hand better. Bill's is too small to be useful," he smiles virtuously.</p><p>Bill glowers at him. <em>That bloody Peruvian.</em></p><p>"Anyway," Leonardo says, sending Ricardo a look. He turns to Bill and asks, "How did you meet Josie? I have met her several times whenever she comes by Zanetta's home. You are a lucky man to have captured her interest."</p><p>Off to the side, Ricardo snorts knowingly. Bill ignores him and, trying to push his annoyance back, responds, "We've been good friends since we met in our first year at Hogwarts."</p><p>Mention of Hogwarts seems to spark Leonardo's curiosity. "Ah, I see. I myself went to Castelobruxo. I have heard good things of Hogwarts though – and of Dumbledore, of course."</p><p>As the two of them begin to compare the two wizarding schools, Josie appears with a wriggling Freira in her arms and promptly hands her off to Ricardo without explanation. Ricardo, naturally, raises an eyebrow at her but takes his niece nonetheless.</p><p>"Isidora needs a break and Mateo has gone off to the corner store to buy more beer," Josie belatedly tells him. "She offered you up."</p><p>Ricardo mutters something about how Mateo should've asked him to come with, but doesn't complain. He begins a very manly cooing session with little Freira in an attempt to quiet her down, somehow able to look just as debonair as ever even with a squirming toddler in his arms. Sexy Peruvian and all that.</p><p>Josie chuckles at Ricardo's cooing and sidles closer to intercept Freira when she throws her small fist at Ricardo's face. He dodges expertly and sighs, "Ah, I see she has not yet grown out of her punching stage." Then, smirking at Josie, he adds, "I think she will be just like my mother when she is older. It is a scary thought."</p><p>Josie laughs at this and turns to Bill, only to find that he's already looking at her with a slight smile on his face. She smiles back and asks, "How are you holding up?"</p><p>He shrugs, "Fine. Leonardo is telling me about Castelobruxo."</p><p>Josie hums and sits down next to him. "Ricardo's told me plenty of stories about his school days. I'm pretty sure he was exaggerating though."</p><p>Leonardo raises an eyebrow at first, but then when he sees the innocent devil smile that once again passes over Ricardo's face, he merely responds, "…Yes, he probably was."</p><p>Ricardo quickly denies this, of course. "I did not exaggerate. I really <em>did</em> go into the rainforest to find the <em>Encantados. </em>My story was entirely genuine."</p><p>Leonardo immediately shakes his head at him. Josie rolls her eyes. Bill…well, Bill has no idea what an <em>Encantado</em> is, and from the coy look blazing through Ricardo's eyes, he isn't sure he wants to know. Little Freira, who is still trying to wriggle out of Ricardo's arms, erases the coy expression when she reaches up to slap her hand against her uncle's face. Bill snickers at the betrayed look Ricardo sends his niece. It's nearly the exact same expression that Freira had sent <em>him,</em> when Isidora had scolded her for pulling Bill's hair.</p><p>His snickers come to a swift end, though, when Leonardo asks, "When is the wedding?"</p><p>Josie and him both pause, look at each other, and spew:</p><p>"Er – August."</p><p>"The summer, yeah."</p><p>They both cringe. Ricardo raises an eyebrow at them as he maneuvers Freira to his other arm. Leonardo tilts his head at the awkward expressions on their faces.</p><p>"And where are you going on the honeymoon?" he asks after a beat of stilted silence, no doubt wondering why the atmosphere has grown oddly tense.</p><p>Josie shifts uncomfortably, deciding to let Bill handle this question. <em>He's</em> the one who's actually going on a honeymoon, after all. Just not with <em>her</em>.</p><p>Bill clears his throat and hedges, "Um, well, there isn't going to be a honeymoon, actually."</p><p>At this, Josie raises an eyebrow and blurts, "There's not?" in a confused voice. Then, realizing that, as the supposed bride, she should probably know these sorts of things, she clears her throat too and hastily adds, "I mean, right. It's still a bit up in the air. I'm not a big planner, you know."</p><p>Bill shoots her a look and then explains, "With everything happening in England right now, we both decided to wait until it's safer."</p><p>Josie swallows back a wave of anxious, fluttery pain, and responds, "Right." Then, seeing Leonardo's raised eyebrow, laughs, "I just really wanted to go to, uh, Egypt. I've never been and Bill's always telling me what it's like and – uh. Anyway, he told me that he'd bring me to see the Sphinx." She smiles quickly and shrugs.</p><p>Bill opens his mouth and then closes it, apparently not knowing what to say without making the situation more awkward than it already is. Luckily (or not), Ricardo Vasquez <em>does</em> know what to say.</p><p>"Did you know that there is a position in the Kamasutra called The Sphinx? It involves crouching down while – <em>oomph!</em> Ah, <em>querida,</em> you are always so violent," he complains as he rubs his abdomen after Josie elbows him.</p><p>"You're holding your niece!" Josie reminds him, embarrassment coloring her tone.</p><p>Ricardo glances down at Freira and smiles. "Yes, and worry not, your uncle Ricardo will not let any man near you who is anything like him."</p><p>Bill clears his throat, sends Ricardo a glower, and gruffly says, <em>"Anyway, </em>we're postponing the honeymoon until it's safer."</p><p>Leonardo hums. "Perhaps that is wise…"</p><p>Bill is happy to turn the conversation from his supposed engagement with Josie to the war, and turns to Leonardo to respond.</p><p>Josie tunes him out to glower over at Ricardo, who sends her an innocent smile.</p><p>"The Sphinx? Really?" she dryly asks.</p><p>Ricardo shrugs. "If <em>I</em> was to bring you to Egypt on a honeymoon, I would do it with style."</p><p>Josie rolls her eyes and mutters, "You do <em>everything</em> with style."</p><p>Ricardo sends her a handsome grin and flutters his eyelashes at her. "Why Josie, I do believe that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me."</p><p>She just sighs.</p><hr/><p>Dinner is served about an hour later. Josie offers to help, but Zanetta shoos her away, so she instead goes over to sit with Gregorio and Mateo, who are hanging around a few of their friends on the porch outside. Mateo has once more been given Freira to watch over, though he is a bit distracted by the discussion being had regarding the latest Quidditch game between the Peruvian and Brazilian teams. Judging on the conversation, Brazil had absolutely crushed the Peruvian team, which is naturally drawing forth a much heated and passionate debate over this injustice.</p><p>Josie likes Quidditch well enough, of course – she had played on the Gryffindor team back at Hogwarts – but she doesn't keep up with the international games unless it's a Quidditch World Cup year, so she hadn't heard about the latest defeat. She sticks around for a while until Bill finds her and comes outside with a peace offering of two beers. He is greeted affably by the other men, though they quickly return to their passionate debate soon after, leaving Josie and Bill to themselves.</p><p>"Sounds like they're arguing," Bill muses, and glances at Josie for an explanation.</p><p>She shrugs as she takes the beer he hands her. "Nah. Just Quidditch talk," she replies, and leans against the balcony railing as she knocks the edge of her beer against Bill's in a silent toast.</p><p>Bill makes a noise of understanding and laughs, "Ah, now <em>that</em> makes sense."</p><p>Josie laughs too. "Men are all the same, no matter <em>what</em> country they're from."</p><p>Bill puts a hand on his chest in mock offense and replies, "I find that highly insulting. That's not true at all." Josie sends him a look and he laughs, "When have I ever been obsessed with Quidditch? You're getting me confused with Charlie."</p><p>She laughs too and admits, "I guess that's true. You've always been more obsessed with curses. Says a lot about you, actually."</p><p>Again, a mock-offended look cuts over his face. This time, though, he sets his beer down and playfully drags her into him with a laugh, tickling her sides in retribution. Josie breaks out into laughter as well and nearly spills her beer all over herself as she cries, "Bill, stop! Merlin – you are such a – freak!"</p><p>His mouth drops open. "A <em>freak?"</em> he repeats, eyes shining with mirth. He doubles his efforts and laughs, <em>"You're</em> a freak."</p><p>She tries to wrangle his hands away from her sides, but to no avail. Instead, she ends up collapsing against him in a fit of giggles, trying not to tip her beer over. It's practically a scene from their childhood, now replaying itself as their laughter fills the porch and captures the attention of the other men, who turn to raise their eyebrows at them.</p><p>"<em>¿Esto es una especie de previa sexual para los Ingleses?"</em> Gregorio muses, tilting his head.</p><p>Mateo snickers,<em> "Parece peligroso."</em></p><p>The next moment, Zanetta is opening the porch door, raising her eyebrows first at Bill and Josie and then at the laughin men, and asking, <em>"¿De qué están hablando?"</em></p><p>Under Zanetta's fierce stare, the men immediately quiet down. The matriarch raises a pointed brow at them before rolling her eyes and gesturing to Bill and Josie. "Come," she says, and waves them inside. She says something else in Spanish that goes over Bill's head.</p><p>Josie, grateful for the distraction, explains, "Thank god for Zanetta. She made dessert."</p><p>Bill is naturally a bit confused as he follows Josie back inside. He raises a questioning eyebrow at Mateo, who sends him a wink before turning back to resume his Quidditch talk.</p><p>"I, uh, keep forgetting that they think we're engaged," Bill mutters to Josie a bit awkwardly.</p><p>He still doesn't know why they couldn't have just told everyone that they are mistaken about that, but, well, seeing as Zanetta has clearly gone through a lot of trouble to throw this little party for them, he supposes that it would be a bit rude to come out and tell them that they have it all wrong.</p><p>Josie shoots him a look that's half exasperated and half amused, and reminds him, "It's your fault, Bill."</p><p>He sighs at her. "Oh come off it, Jos. You can't still be mad about it."</p><p>She lifts her chin stubbornly. "Maybe I am," she haughtily tells him, but the trace of mirth in her voice makes it clear that she's not half as annoyed as she'd been before.</p><p>Bill shakes his head at her and throws an arm around her shoulders. In a breezy voice, he reminds her, "We both know you can't stay mad at me for long." He sends her a smile and she returns it as best she can.</p><p>He's right, of course, though it isn't for lack of trying.</p><p>"Ah, there are the lovebirds," Ricardo purrs when they step into the kitchen after Zanetta. He's leaning against the counter holding a plate of cake. When Josie glances up at him, he drawls, "It is nice that you told us all of your <em>engagement,</em> English curse-breaker. I do enjoy a good party."</p><p>Bill's smile drops into a glower, though he erases it when Josie elbows him a bit. As Zanetta bustles around to cut some more cake, Ricardo sends Bill his innocent devil smile and sighs, "It is strange, but I could have sworn I heard Gregorio saying something just now. What was it, <em>querida?"</em></p><p>Josie purses her lips. The look she sends him then is full of warning. Naturally Ricardo doesn't appear to notice.</p><p>"<em>Madre, ¿escuchaste lo que dijo Gregorio?" </em>he innocently asks his mother, who glances over at him with a raised brow before shooing him out of the way.</p><p>Ricardo gracefully steps to the side so that she can open the cabinet in search of more plates. As she's pulling them out, she responds, <em>"Compórtate, Ricardo."</em></p><p>Zanetta's no-nonsense scolding makes Josie grin smugly at him. Ricardo pouts back and dramatically sighs<em>, "Siendo el hijo mejor, yo debería ser más amado."</em></p><p>Zanetta sighs right back at him. <em>"Te amo más de lo que te mereces."</em></p><p>Ricardo's mouth drops open at this.</p><p>His mother merely shoos him out of the way again, and Ricardo sidesteps just in time to avoid being run over by Feliciti and Frescura, who are chasing young Alfonso into the kitchen with empty plates.</p><p>"<em>¡Más pastel!"</em> they cry, begging their grandmother with pleading eyes. When Zanetta just crosses her muscled arms and raises her eyebrows at them, they turn to Ricardo. <em>"¡Tío, más pastel!"</em></p><p>Ricardo raises his eyebrows at them too, and takes great pleasure in take a large bite of the cake that he's still in the middle of eating. His nieces and nephew pout at him.</p><p>"<em>Pregúntenle a su madre," </em>Zanetta sighs, then mutters something about how hard it is to say no to those eyes.</p><p>Feliciti, Frescura, and Alfonso run from the kitchen as quickly as they had come to do Zanetta's bidding, searching for Isidora. As for Alfonso, whose mother, Carilla, is still off on a business trip in Teresina, he appears to be throwing his lot in with his aunt as well.</p><p>"Anyway, what was I saying?" Ricardo says, pretending to think. His mouth curls up into a roguish smile. "Ah yes. Gregorio. It sounded a bit like – "</p><p>"Ricardo, would you get me another beer?" Josie cuts in with a smile. It's the sort of smile that one might use when they are trying to, well, shut someone up. Her eyes glint dangerously and it actually succeeds in giving Ricardo pause.</p><p>He eyes her warily and pouts, "Fine," before pushing off from the counter and depositing his plate by the sink. He looks like a kicked puppy when he sends her another baleful look and he steps out of the kitchen.</p><p>Bill is impressed. "Have I ever told you how scary your eyes get when you do that?" he wonders, watching Ricardo go.</p><p>Josie only smirks and replies, "Trust me, Bill, you don't need to tell me."</p><p>He studies that smirk for a long moment before muttering, "…Right."</p><p>Her expression turns a shade more smug.</p><hr/><p>Unfortunately, all bets are off when Ricardo Vasquez is on a mission. If he's being honest, of course, he doesn't think that Bill is good enough for Josie. The English curse-breaker is an idiot and frankly, Ricardo has doubts that he could be the man that Josie deserves. However, he's known Josie for years now, and her heart hasn't wavered at all during that time. She's still just as in love with Bill as she ever was. If Ricardo suspected that her feelings really were one-sided, he wouldn't waste his time, but as it is…</p><p>There is something in the way that Bill looks at her. Something that is not friendship. He sees it now, as he speaks to several of his father's friends and updates them on some of his recent assignments. He sees the way Bill glances at Josie from across the room, the way his eyes soften just so as he watches her hand out second helpings of cake to Feliciti, Frescura, and Alfonso. He sees the way Bill's mouth quirks up when Josie pushes them towards the porch and away from their mother's watchful eye.</p><p>Ricardo Vasquez sees it all. Bill is an idiot for thinking that Josie is merely a friend. It's obvious to Ricardo that this is not friendship. He didn't realize it was possible to be so blind, until he met Bill Weasley.</p><p>Gregorio sidles up beside Ricardo and claps him on the shoulder as he listens to their father tell one of his usual exaggerated stories about his curse-breaking days. This time, it has to do with a run-in with a magical Capybara, who his team had found nearby one of the sites they had been tasked with. It's a story that Ricardo and Gregorio have heard many times growing up, so they naturally know exactly what their father will say.</p><p>"<em>Escuchamos un ruido fuerte que venía de los árboles, y entonces – </em><em>"</em> Marco says.</p><p>"<em>Un carpincho mágico gigante corrió hacia nosotros," </em>Gregorio cuts in, his voice cast in an exaggeratedly ominous tone.</p><p>"<em>Era casi tan grande como el templo," </em>Ricardo adds, gesticulating wildly.</p><p>Marco sends his sons a vexed frown and grumbles, <em>"¿Por qué tuve hijos? Son unos buenos para nada."</em></p><p>Gregorio laughs and wraps an arm around his father's shoulders, only for Marco to elbow him off with another grumble. In the background, Isidora is loudly calling for Mateo to locate Frescura and Feliciti, who seem to have disappeared. As her voice carries into the room, Marco sighs again, <em>"Desearía haber tenido hijos más callados."</em></p><p>Ricardo snorts, <em>"Tu vida sería vacía sin nosotros, viejo."</em></p><p>Marco just grumbles again and mumbles, <em>"Mucho jodes,"</em> under his voice just as Feliciti and Frescura make a reappearance, running noisily through the room after Alfonso. The boy seems to have upset them somehow, because the girls appear quite set on getting some form of revenge. Gregorio raises his eyebrow at the sight of his escaping son and sends Ricardo an exasperated look.</p><p>"<em>Carilla no volverá por otra semana," </em>he bemoans as he goes after his son. <em>"Se lleva mucho mejor con los chicos que yo."</em></p><p>Ricardo snickers at his complaints and watches him go before turning back to the room. Several people have already left, as the hour is growing late now, but the party is still going. His mother has already introduced everyone to Bill and Josie a while ago and the engagement aspect of the party seems to have faded somewhat as people turn the tide of the conversation to other topics. Leonardo is chatting with Mateo near the fireplace. Several of Isidora's friends are wrangling Josie into a conversation about – well, from Josie's blushing countenance, something embarrassing. Bill is with Zanetta near the entrance to the kitchen, naturally looking quite confused as Zanetta fires rapid Spanish at him and doesn't seem at all put-off that he clearly has no idea what she's saying.</p><p>Ricardo smirks at the sight, sets his shoulders back, and calls, "English curse-breaker! Come here a moment."</p><p>Upon being summoned, Bill looks more than a little wary. So does Zanetta, for that matter. She sends her youngest son a look that Ricardo merely smiles breezily at, and rolls her eyes as Bill steps over to him.</p><p>"What do you want, you bloody Peruvian?" he grumbles.</p><p>Ricardo sighs at him. "You are so rude, English curse-breaker. It makes me wonder what Josie sees in you."</p><p>Bill only raises an eyebrow at him. Ricardo sighs again, then throws an arm over Bill's shoulder and nods at Josie, who is still blushing as Isidora and her friends say…well, whatever it is they're saying to her.</p><p>"Is Josie not beautiful?" he wonders with a purring smile.</p><p>Bill's gruff response to this is: "Josie's always been beautiful. What are you trying to say?"</p><p>He probably shouldn't have asked that, in hindsight.</p><p>"<em>Querida,</em> the English curse-breaker wanted to say a few words to his gracious hosts, for celebrating his most holy union with you!" Ricardo calls, and effectively captures the attention of the entire room.</p><p>As everyone turns to look at the pair, Bill's face turns several shades redder and the warning glint returns to Josie's eyes. She excuses herself from Isidora's friends to step over to them, murmuring in a low voice, "Ricardo, I don't know what you're trying to do, but – "</p><p>"<em>¡Va a dar un discurso!" </em>Ricardo loudly explains to everyone, who all raise their eyebrows at them curiously.</p><p>"Ricardo – " Josie hisses.</p><p>"I will translate for you, English curse-breaker. Go on, then," Ricardo smiles innocently, and reaches out to drag Josie into the fold, throwing his other arm around her shoulders.</p><p>Bill's face looks uncomfortably warm. Josie feels quite bad for him, and so she turns to everyone and says, <em>"Nos gustaría agradecerles a todos por celebrar con nosotros – "</em></p><p>"Ah. I suppose a man with such a small wand <em>would</em> let his woman speak for him," Ricardo murmurs happily, much to Bill's annoyance.</p><p>Bill grits his teeth and mutters back, "I do not have a small wand – "</p><p>"<em>No tengo una varita pequeña,"</em> Ricardo loudly repeats in Spanish, and struggles to hold back his snickers when everyone's eyebrows raise a notch higher.</p><p>Bill isn't stupid, and based on everyone's reactions – and Josie's horrified expression – it doesn't take him very long to realize what had just happened. His face turns even warmer and he clears his throat, reaching up to rub his forehead. Thankfully, everyone in the room knows Ricardo Vasquez and his antics, and merely waits.</p><p>"Right," Bill sighs. "Are you going to translate my words correctly, or are you going to be a bloody twat?"</p><p>Ricardo's potential blasé response to this is nipped in the bud when Josie sends him another warning stare. He ends up backtracking and merely replies, "I will translate correctly," though he doesn't seem very happy about it.</p><p>Bill glances at Josie, who nods at him. If Ricardo doesn't translate properly, then she will. He sighs again.</p><p>"Well then. Thank you for everything, Zanetta, you've been wonderful and I'm glad to have met you, even though it was only for a short time," Bill says. Ricardo promptly begins to repeat the words, though it isn't completely necessary, as most of them understand English well enough to get the gist of what Bill is saying. Zanetta smiles at him.</p><p>"I wish I could say that I was as glad to have met Ricardo, but as it is, he's a complete wanker," Bill nods.</p><p>Ricardo begins to translate that and then pauses halfway through to pout at him with betrayed eyes. Josie snorts in amusement and everyone in the room snickers at Ricardo's expense, guessing that he had just been insulted, which he had likely deserved.</p><p>"You said you'd translate, Vasquez," Bill reminds him with a raised eyebrow.</p><p>Ricardo glowers. "There is no word for 'wanker'. I do not even understand what that means."</p><p>Bill smirks. "It's something you probably do every night all by yourself in your room."</p><p>Ricardo's mouth drops open in offense. "I do not! I do not, <em>querida</em> – tell him!"</p><p>Josie is holding back snickers. She catches Bill's eye and he winks at her.</p><p>"Anyway, I'm grateful for you all for making Josie and I feel welcome," Bill says.</p><p>Ricardo is still spluttering, so Josie translates that last bit, still trying to contain her amusement.</p><p>Well, it isn't every day that Ricardo Vasquez is bested by an Englishman, after all.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Translations:</strong>
</p><p>"<em>¡El hijo pródigo ha vuelto!" – The prodigal son is home!</em></p><p>"<em>Invité a algunos amigos a cenar. Un compromiso entre dos personas no es algo que sucede todos los días. ¡Quería celebrar!" – I invited some friends to dinner. It isn't every day that two people become engaged. I wanted to celebrate!</em></p><p>"<em>Aquí están!" – Here they are!</em></p><p>"<em>¿Esto es una especie de previa sexual para los Ingleses?" – Is this some kind of foreplay that the English engage in?</em></p><p>"<em>Parece peligroso." – It looks dangerous.</em></p><p>"<em>¿De qué están hablando?" – What are you all talking about?</em></p><p>"<em>Madre, ¿escuchaste lo que dijo Gregorio?" – Mother, did you hear what Gregorio was saying?</em></p><p>"<em>Compórtate, Ricardo." – Behave, Ricardo.</em></p><p>"<em>Siendo el hijo mejor, yo debería ser más amado." – As the youngest son, I should be loved more.</em></p><p>
  <em>Te amo más de lo que te mereces." – I love you more than you deserve.</em>
</p><p>"<em>Escuchamos un ruido fuerte que venía de los árboles, y entonces – </em><em>" – We heard a loud noise from the trees, and then –</em></p><p>"<em>Un carpincho mágico gigante corrió hacia nosotros." – a giant Capybara charged towards us.</em></p><p>"<em>Era casi tan grande como el templo." – It was nearly as tall as the temple itself.</em></p><p>"<em>¿Por qué tuve hijos? Son unos buenos para nada." – Why did I have sons? They aren't good for anything.</em></p><p>"<em>Desearía haber tenido hijos más callados." – I wish I had quieter children.</em></p><p>"<em>Tu vida sería vacía sin nosotros, viejo." – Your life would be empty without us, father.</em></p><p>"<em>Carilla no volverá por otra semana. Se lleva mucho mejor con los chicos que yo." – Carilla won't be back for another week. She's much better with kids than I am.</em></p><p>"<em>¡Va a dar un discurso!" – He is going to give a speech!</em></p><p>"<em>Nos gustaría agradecerles a todos por celebrar con nosotros." – We wanted to thank everyone for celebrating with us –</em></p><p>"<em>No tengo una varita pequeña." – I do not have a small wand</em></p><p>
  <em>Encantados, AKA Amazon Pink River Dolphins: In Brazilian mythology, these dolphins transform into beautiful men during the nighttime hours and go into local villages to party like crazy and seduce women. If they take a particular liking to you, they will bring you with them to their underwater city of Encante. If you happen to be in the Amazon rainforest at night and see such a man, do be sure to check to see if he has a hole on top of his head, as these dolphins-turned-humans are unable to fully remove their blowholes upon transforming. If this beautiful man does not have such an orifice, then you have most likely just stumbled upon a sexy Brazilian, and alas, you will simply have to make the most of it. For the purposes of this story, we will pretend that the Encantados may transform into both men and women. Irregardless, however, and to return to the explanation therein: a younger Ricardo, ever curious, had been interested in seeing if the Encantados were real, and likes to tell a very tall tale about how they most certainly are. No one, not even the omniscient authoress, knows if he is being truthful, or indeed, what Ricardo actually experienced on that fateful, theoretical night.</em>
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<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Never Let a Weasley Follow you to pubs</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>We are officially at the halfway point of the story! Thanks again to Anne J Black over on Fanfiction.net for the Spanish translations in this arc!  Hope you all have a lovely week<br/>Also worry not, Ricardo will be back ;)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  <strong>Chapter Eleven | Never Let a Weasley Follow you to pubs (especially after lying to him)</strong>
</p><p>Once the day is said and done and everyone heads home, Bill and Josie once again find themselves in the bedroom that they will be sharing for one more night.</p><p>"So…we'll be returning to England tomorrow," Bill says as he walks over to his bag. He sits down on the side of the bed and looks up at her, only to find that she's turned her attention the small table beside the bed.</p><p>"Mmhmm," she hums in response as she opens the drawer. The small golden coin flashes at her, right where she'd left it. She pockets it and closes the drawer again before lifting her arms up into a stretch.</p><p>"Why do you have that, anyway?" Bill asks when she doesn't say anything. He raises an eyebrow at her, silently prompting her.</p><p>Josie doesn't look at him directly. When she does respond, her voice is low and a bit muffled since her back is turned towards him.</p><p>"It's just a lucky coin is all," she tells him, but there's something strangely guarded about her voice that has his eyebrow raising higher; a hint of disparagement.</p><p>"Just a – " he begins, only for his words to get cut off when Ricardo bloody Vasquez waltzes into the room unannounced.</p><p>"<em>Querida,</em> we should go through the expedition contract before it grows too late – ah, English curse-breaker, you do not need to be a part of this. It is dreadfully boring," Ricardo says when he catches sight of him.</p><p>Bill sits up a little straighter and responds through gritted teeth, "Yes, <em>I know.</em> I am also a curse-breaker."</p><p>Ricardo sends him a purring smile and doesn't respond. Well he <em>does,</em> but it isn't entirely the response that Bill is expecting. To be fair, though, he probably <em>should</em> be expecting it by now.</p><p>"This used to be my room, did you know?" Ricardo purrs. He eyes the narrow bed and wonders, "It is quite difficult to fit two people on that mattress without a bit of…creativity." His smile grows a touch roguish.</p><p>Bill narrows his eyes at him. Ricardo smiles breezily as he leans against the threshold.</p><p>"Let's get to work, then," Josie announces, deciding that it would be best to break up the latest tension before it can turn into a full-blown argument. She shoots Ricardo a look that he doesn't see, because he's too busy smiling devilishly at Bill.</p><p>"I have set everything up in the sitting room. The others have already gone off to bed, so we will be able to work in peace," Ricardo says, and gracefully pushes himself off the threshold before turning his heel and leaving just as quickly as he'd come. Bill grumbles to himself and stands up to follow.</p><p>"You know, if you'd rather go to sleep, Ricardo and I can handle this," Josie tells him as she stands up too. She sends him a small smile, taking in the tired look in his eyes. He must be exhausted. This whole trip had pushed him out of his comfort zone.</p><p>But she knows Bill, and she's not surprised when he just shrugs, "It's fine. I wasn't able to help you as much with breaking the curses, so this is the least I can do."</p><p>She nudges him playfully as they step back into the hall and responds, "I have always hated this part of the trip. Contracts aren't really my strong point."</p><p>Bill chuckles at her. "Well isn't it a good thing that I came along, then? Admit it, Jos, you aren't <em>that</em> angry about it anymore."</p><p>She rolls her eyes at him but doesn't deny it. It's not as if his joining the expedition was ever the real reason for her anger anyway, well not entirely. She wasn't angry that he was there; just that he could get in the way of her plans with Mauricio. She'll admit that it would be a lot easier to just tell him about said plans outright, but now more than ever, the thought of informing him of her curse makes her nervous.</p><p>Ricardo is waiting for them in the sitting room, his long legs stretched out over the coffee table. Bill does a double-take when he sees him. The reason for this is, of course, because Ricardo Vasquez is wearing a pair of reading glasses, which is really rather odd because he just doesn't seem the type.</p><p>The Peruvian notices the look that Bill sends him and smirks, drawing his glasses down his nose to blink up at him over the rim. "Ah yes. Many people find me unbearably sexy whenever I put these on," he purrs at him.</p><p>Josie laughs and collapses onto the couch beside him. "You're always sexy, Ricardo," she reminds him, as nonchalantly as if she was commenting on the weather.</p><p>Ricardo hums in agreement and puts an arm around her shoulders. "That is true, <em>querida.</em> But enough about my incredible charisma. Shall we get to work?"</p><p>Bill takes a seat in one of the armchairs as Ricardo leans forward to begin distributing the treasure from the temple. The majority of it will go to the Peruvian government, but a smaller percentage must be allocated for Gringotts. It will, of course, first go to the curse-breaking department on the Peruvian Council to be appraised. Their job for now is merely to tally everything up and ensure that it is all documented. Given the wide variety of items, it will take some time.</p><p>The scrolls have their own value and protocols. They will be heading off with Ricardo to be brought to researchers in the Peruvian government. As for the vast array of golden statues and jewels, the three of them begin to go through them now, arranging them up into semi-organized piles and counting every single piece. A separate team back at Gringotts will reassess everything to ensure accuracy, once the Peruvian Council has delivered on their end of the contract, and shipped the gold to England.</p><p>There is one other thing, though, that Josie is concerned about.</p><p>"…Catalina wanted me to pay for the Moondrops with Incan jewels," she murmurs to Ricardo when Bill gets up to get a glass of water.</p><p>This information makes Ricardo pause in the middle of documenting the number of allocated golden medallions. He glances up at her sharply and studies her worried eyes.</p><p>"And you agreed?" he slowly asks. His voice is not necessarily surprised. Rather, it is cast in a wary, guarded sort of tone, most likely because he is aware of how binding agreements can be, even when they are only verbalized.</p><p>Josie grimaces at him, which is answer enough. He puts down his quill and leans back, frowning at her. This is how Bill finds them a moment later, when he sets three glasses of water down on the coffee table. He glances at Ricardo's frowning countenance and turns to Josie's worried one, and raises an eyebrow.</p><p>"Is something wrong?" he wonders hesitantly.</p><p>Ricardo sighs. Josie runs a hand through her hair. Truthfully, this has been worrying her since she had discovered the true nature of the 'Moondew essence' that Catalina had supplied to her. With everything that has happened since then, though, she hasn't exactly had time to mention this little detail.</p><p>"I…uh. I guess I forgot to mention that…I actually went back to buy a second vial of Moondrops before we left the country," Josie tells Bill, who purses his mouth at her. "I couldn't afford it, so…" she glances down at the surface of the table, which is strewn with their findings. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what she's silently saying.</p><p>"Josie, you can't just take artifacts from expeditions – you could get into serious trouble for that," he murmurs, furrowing his brow at her. Now, his eyes gleam with just as much worry as hers.</p><p>Ricardo waves his hand and, the voice of reason, says, "It is no matter. I will give you a loan, you will pay the witch off, and then you will repay me when you are able to." He peers at her solemnly and adds, "You do not want to be indebted to such a woman."</p><p>Josie wholeheartedly agrees, with that last bit anyway. She is quite indignant about taking Ricardo's money, though. "It's twenty galleons though – "</p><p>"I'll take care of it," Bill says staunchly, and reaches over to pick up the quill that Ricardo had just abandoned, resuming the work without another word.</p><p>Both Josie and Ricardo turn to stare at him, though with varying expressions. Josie looks utterly sideswept by his declaration. Ricardo looks…well, unsurprised.</p><p>"What? You'll take care of it? <em>Why?"</em> Josie asks, then hurries to add, "You're getting married, Bill. You need to save up to support Fleur – "</p><p>"Josie," he interrupts, eyeing her stubbornly, "if you really can't stand the thought of me taking care of you, then you can borrow the money. But when we return to England, I'll be the one going back to see that witch. I don't trust her and I don't want you getting hurt."</p><p>She gapes at him. As for Ricardo, he merely leans back and remains silent.</p><p>"But – " she begins.</p><p>"The English curse-breaker looks quite adamant about this, Josie. Let him throw his money away for you, if he wishes," Ricardo cuts in. Then, before Josie can argue any further on this, he nods to Bill and says, "Let us continue, Weasley. We are nearly finished."</p><p>For once, Bill and Ricardo seem to be on the same page. They work together to finish documenting everything, acting surprisingly cordial throughout. Josie stares at them in subdued shock, partially because of their sudden collaboration and partially because she is still reeling from Bill's stubborn desire to help.</p><p>She probably shouldn't be surprised, to be fair. It's not as if she's ungrateful for his offer – in fact, her chest fills with warmth even now, at the thought of his staunch declaration – but Bill is too generous for his own good, sometimes. He has a bad habit of coming to her rescue even when she doesn't want him to. He is about to embark on a new stage of his life with Fleur, and he shouldn't be throwing his money at her when he needs it to grow that life.</p><p>"Josie, pay attention," Ricardo tells her, nudging her out of her daze. He points to a pile of gold and says, "Start counting."</p><p>She sighs and mutters, "Right."</p><hr/><p>Josie doesn't like sneaking around. She isn't really cut out for it.</p><p>"Do you have everything you need?" Ricardo whispers when she joins him in the sitting room once more, about two hours later. Waiting for Bill to fall asleep had been tedious, but the first moment she heard his breathing even out, Josie had gotten up to collect her things. The reason for this nighttime excursion? Well, Mauricio Moreno is waiting for them in Lima, and since Josie and Bill are due to return to England in the morning, they don't have very much time to make the trade that had been agreed upon.</p><p>Josie glances behind her at the door she had just exited and whispers back, "I think so. Are you ready to go, then?"</p><p>Through the darkness, Ricardo nods. He gestures towards the front door and the pair of them silently step outside. She breathes a little easier once they close the door behind them.</p><p>"I don't like this," Josie sighs as they exit out onto the street. She glances behind her again and mumbles, "Lying to Bill, I mean."</p><p>Ricardo doesn't sound very sympathetic when he reminds her, "You don't <em>have</em> to lie to him. If you told him about the curse, I am certain that he would do everything in his power to help you."</p><p>Josie runs a hand through her hair and responds, "That's exactly why I can't tell him. He's got enough to worry about without dealing with my problems, too."</p><p>Ricardo doesn't look impressed with this but doesn't say anything. Instead, he merely throws an arm around her shoulders and says, "In any case, Mauricio will be waiting for us. We shouldn't keep him waiting."</p><p>She nods in agreement and wraps an arm around his waist, preparing for side-long apparition. As she does, she asks, "Where are we meeting him, exactly? You never said."</p><p>He shrugs, <em>"El Peruano Borracho.</em> A pub."</p><p>Josie raises an eyebrow at him. Ricardo smiles happily at her.</p><p>"What? It is a good pub. They have a wonderful selection. You will love it, <em>querida."</em></p><p>Josie can't help but laugh at this, though she does make sure to remind him, "We aren't going there to have fun, Ricardo."</p><p>Ricardo's only response to this is: "Yes, but surely we can have a few drinks while we're at it."</p><p>And then, before Josie can argue this point, Ricardo sends her a roguish smile and apparates with a loud crack, dragging her with him into the familiar void. Perhaps if they had looked back, they would have realized that they weren't quite as alone as they'd thought – but, as it is, neither of them notices that they hadn't been as quiet as they had hoped, and Bill hadn't been as asleep as Josie had assumed.</p><p>The moment they disappear, he steps out of the shadows with a fierce frown, mind spinning with questions, and checks his watch. He waits two minutes so as to avoid being seen when he follows them, and then draws his wand and repeats <em>'El Peruano Borracho, Lima' </em>in his head several times before turning on his heel and apparating after them.</p><p>Bill doesn't entirely know where he's going to end up. It's always a bit of a risk, apparating to a place that you've never been to. That's not to say that it isn't done with relative frequency, but it requires a bit more concentration than it would if you were going to a place that you have been before. Since Bill has no idea what <em>El Peruano Borracho </em>looks like, he isn't able to conjure an image of it in his mind's eye. Still, despite the increased need for concentration and focus, he does appear to end up in the right spot.</p><p>He apparates right in the middle of a group of older women who are walking down the street, and is at first taken aback at how busy it is. After stumbling through a hasty apology and picking up a handbag that one of the women had dropped, Bill steps back to the side of the street to get his bearings. The women grouse at him as they amble off, but thankfully don't make a big scene about it. That alone tells him that this is obviously a magical community, otherwise they probably would have more to say about his sudden appearance.</p><p>Even though it is nearing midnight, it seems that it is as busy as it would be during the daylit hours. As Bill shuffles back to avoid getting run into by a man who has clearly had one too many drinks, he looks around at the brightly clad witches and wizards who are walking the streets.</p><p>After a few moments spent studying the streets, Bill turns his attention to the buildings, searching for the pub that Ricardo and Josie had run off to. That they had purposefully kept him in the dark about their plans angers him, but he pushes it back as his gaze lands on the pub that he now notices across the street from where he's standing. The doors of it are thrown open in a welcoming manner, and he narrows his eyes at the large windows, searching for a familiar head of curly dark hair. He sees none.</p><p>Now growing a bit impatient, Bill shoves his hands into his pockets and turns his attention back to the street. He wouldn't claim that his work for the Order of the Phoenix has necessarily trained him for these sorts of situations, but they have certainly helped hone his senses somewhat. He's been on several stake-out missions for the Order since joining and is prepared to wait. If he's expecting to be waiting long, though, then he is pleasantly surprised when, only a few minutes later, he finally sees Josie in the doorway of the pub.</p><p>The bloody Peruvian is with her, along with another man who looks a bit rough around the edges. He is dressed in faded jeans and is wearing a pair of scuffed up leather boots that look like they've seen better days. His large frame is both imposing and intimidating, especially since he has a rather guarded look about him, as if he is constantly suspicious around others.</p><p>Bill huddles further against the wall and draws his eyes back to Josie, who is stepping outside of the pub. She nods to the side and opens her mouth to say something to the man, who gestures forward with a wide sweep of his hand. When the three of them begin to amble down the street, Bill frowns and follows.</p><p>What he ends up witnessing is quite unexpected. Then again, shady deals made in alleyways often are.</p><p>"<em>Tengo la moneda, como pediste," </em>the man gruffly says. From the entrance to the alley, Bill watches him reach into his pocket and withdraw something. As he passes it to Josie, it gleams just so in the dim light.</p><p>Josie takes it with a look of relief, and says, <em>"Gracias por venir hasta acá. No tengo palabras para decirte lo mucho que te agradezco."</em></p><p>The man grumbles out a response and murmurs, <em>"Vasquez me dijo que fuiste maldecida. ¿Crees que es por esta moneda?"</em></p><p>Ricardo crosses his arms and leans his shoulder against the wall. He glances over at the man and asks, <em>"¿Te pasó algo extraño durante estos últimos meses? Mala suerte, enfermedades inexplicables…"</em></p><p>The man shakes his head, looking a bit miffed. <em>"No. Mi hermano tampoco mencionó nada de esto." </em>Then, turning to Josie, he raises an eyebrow. <em>"No existe el oro maldecido."</em></p><p>For some reason, Josie's expression grows a touch exasperated at this. <em>"Sin embargo hay un montón de historias sobre la maldición del oro."</em></p><p>The man waves his hand and immediately responds, <em>"Son mitos."</em></p><p>Josie's expression turns a bit more impatient when the man says that. Ricardo is quick to intercept with a hasty, <em>"Aún así, ella ha sido maldecida. Muéstrale, Josie."</em></p><p>What happens next leaves Bill reeling. For, when Josie undoes the first few buttons of her shirt and pulls it down just far enough to reveal the dark veins creeping from her heart, several things fall into place.</p><p>The frequent trips into Knockturn Alley. The Moondrops she had purchased. The way she had said –</p><p>"<em>I'm cursed, Bill."</em></p><p>Now, there are plenty of accidents that can occur when you are a curse-breaker, and one of the main risks of the job is not breaking a curse properly. Curses, especially ancient ones, can be quite complicated. It isn't uncommon for a curse to have many complex layers to it, and if you do not break through each layer in the correct order, some of the magic can and will retaliate. It is difficult to say with any certainty what the effects might be, since each curse is different, but Bill has been a curse-breaker for long enough to recognize what he's seeing, now that he's actually seeing it of course.</p><p>He's been cursed on the job a few times as well. His first time had been because he had stupidly forgotten to check to make sure that the entire curse was, indeed, broken. It had been during his first year in Egypt and his lack of experience had resulted in being bed-ridden for several days while his body had fought off the effects of it. Thankfully, it had been a relatively simple curse to counteract and Robert Wright had enough knowledge of it to handle the situation. He's seen a few of his fellow Egyptian coworkers deal with similar situations as well, but they were all lucky enough to live through them once the curse had been broken.</p><p>This, though…it isn't like anything he's ever seen before. Apparently it isn't anything this man has seen either, because his eyes widen as he stares at the dark veins in surprise.</p><p>"<em>¿Lo comprendes ahora?" </em>Ricardo asks.</p><p>The man frowns, but says, <em>"Sí... comprendo." </em>Then, looking up at Josie, he hastily adds,<em> "Contactaré a mi hermano. Quizás él sepa más."</em></p><p>Josie opens her mouth to respond, but before she can…</p><p>"Ah…we have company, <em>querida,"</em> Ricardo says as Bill steps forward, staring at the dark veins that are still visible against Josie's skin. His sudden appearance has them all looking up in surprise, clearly not expecting his presence. He feels yet another flare of anger at all the secrecy surrounding this situation and frowns deeply.</p><p>"You've been cursed, then. You didn't think to tell me that?" Bill demands, lifting his eyes to Josie's in a hard stare. As expected, she looks quite shaken to see him and hurriedly pulls her shirt back over the dark veins as an uncomfortable expression captures her face.</p><p>"Bill, I – "</p><p>"We will explain it to you, but only after we finish our deal," Ricardo cuts in, glancing at Bill with appraising eyes before turning back to Mauricio, who is looking between them with a confused expression.</p><p>Bill impatiently growls, "What deal?" not looking very pleased to be brushed off.</p><p>Josie swallows back a wave of dread and remains silent, distracting herself from Bill's upset expression by focusing on buttoning her shirt back up.</p><p>Ricardo doesn't grace Bill with a response either, and merely claps Mauricio on the shoulder as he says something in Spanish. Bill grits his teeth. When he sees Ricardo hand over what looks like quite a bit of money, though, he can no longer stay silent.</p><p>"What is going on?" he demands, trying to catch Josie's eye. His frown deepens all the more when she appears dead-set on not looking at him directly. "Josie. What have you gotten yourself into? I want answers."</p><p>Mauricio raises an eyebrow at him, but merely turns back to Josie to nod<em>, "Haré que Ricardo te escriba si descubro algo."</em></p><p>Josie nods faintly at him and murmurs, <em>"Gracias, Mauricio."</em></p><p>The man nods back, pockets the money that Ricardo had just passed to him, and says one last thing to Ricardo before he makes his way out of the alley. He glances at Bill as he walks by him, but doesn't linger to inquire into his presence. Once he is gone, a heavy silence settles upon the three of them, made all the heavier when Bill finally manages to catch Josie's eye.</p><p>She looks faint and sick as she regards him, clearly hesitant about being on the receiving end of his expectant, frowning stare.</p><p>Thank Merlin for Ricardo Vasquez, who is quite possibly a godsend.</p><p>"Well, now that the English curse-breaker has finally caught on, shall we have those drinks?" he breezily suggests, and gestures to the entrance of the alley with a dramatic wave of his hand.</p><hr/><p><em>Beware who enter here, fo</em> <em>r those who live by way of greed will perish.</em></p><p>Bill stares down at the words that Josie had jotted down on a spare napkin, a frown marring his face. Sitting across from him at the small table, Josie clutches the beer that Ricardo had supplied her some minutes before. She hasn't taken a sip yet, though, because she's too busy staring at Bill with a worried expression blazing through her eyes.</p><p>"I should have told you," she admits hastily, "but I was worried that you'd…"</p><p>That he'd what, judge her? Become angry at her for making such a stupid mistake? Try to rush in to save the day, as he is often wont to do? She grimaces a bit as Bill sends her a sharp look, and decides not to finish her sentence. He doesn't look very happy with her, though she isn't entirely surprised by it. She's been essentially lying to him for months now, after all.</p><p>"So let me get this straight," Bill says firmly. He pushes the napkin away and turns his frown on her. "You brought this coin home with you and it cursed you. But you didn't realize that the coin was the reason for the curse until you spoke to that woman, who ended up giving you illegal drugs and informed you about cursed gold." Josie cringes, but he isn't finished yet. "You've been struggling with the manifestations of this curse for nearly nine months now and you've been keeping it from me because – why?"</p><p>The sudden question has her cringing again as she turns her eyes to stare broodingly into her beer.</p><p>"…I didn't want to worry you," she mumbles; a half-truth.</p><p>Bill rubs his forehead. His voice is strained when he repeats, "You didn't want to <em>worry</em> me? Josie, I've been worried about you for <em>months</em> now."</p><p>At this, she glances up at him in confusion. Bill shakes his head at her, looking exasperated. "I know that you're living at the Leaky Cauldron, Josie. Tom told me."</p><p>He watches her cheeks flush a bit. In a grousing voice, she mutters, "That old bastard…"</p><p>He sends her a look and asks, "This curse is why you've been distancing yourself from me? Why you didn't want to move in?"</p><p>Ricardo remains perfectly silent as he watches Josie stumble through her response to this.</p><p>"I – er, yeah, that's – yes," she says, a bit flustered. There's no way she's telling him the <em>real</em> reason. Merlin. She doesn't think she'd be able to live with herself if she admitted that she just can't stand being around him when she's so fucking in love with him. She thinks she'd rather get cursed a second time than tell him about her feelings for him, to be honest.</p><p>Ricardo shifts in his chair and takes a sip of his beer. Then, glancing over at Bill, he says, "I still stand behind what I've been saying all this time: cursed gold is just a myth."</p><p>Bill doesn't have anything to say about that, since he isn't familiar with South American curses, but Josie most certainly does.</p><p>"And I still stand behind what <em>I've</em> been saying: that it's true," she staunchly replies to him.</p><p>All three of them eye the two golden coins that Josie had set onto the table's surface upon sitting down. The Incan gold gleams brightly in the light.</p><p>"But Josie, surely we would have heard of other cases," Ricardo logically points out. "Even Mauricio has never heard of cursed gold before, and he's been a curse-breaker for many years."</p><p>She purses her lips and returns, "But that doesn't mean anything. People could have been cursed from it but they just didn't realize what was cursing them."</p><p>Bill watches them go back and forth. He has a feeling that this is not a new argument. They both sound quite exasperated with each other, as if they've repeated these points several times already.</p><p>"There are a great many other things that could have cursed you – "</p><p>"But Catalina said – "</p><p>"I do not trust a woman who gave you Moondrops without informing you what they were," Ricardo cuts in.</p><p>"I agree that there's something off about that, but what else can I do? I need to at least try to collect the other coins. I don't have any other leads," Josie impatiently tells him.</p><p>Ricardo sighs, "And I will you help, as I said before, but I will also continue looking into other possibilities."</p><p>Josie opens her mouth to respond, but Bill swiftly interrupts with a firm, "Regardless, you aren't going back to see Catalina, Josie. Ricardo's right – she shouldn't be trusted."</p><p>Ricardo blinks over at him, looking vaguely surprised that Bill agrees with him for once. As for Josie, she runs a hand through her hair and sighs, "I still need to pay her for the Moondrops, though. I'm not letting you go into Knockturn Alley by yourself, Bill."</p><p>Bill reaches across the table to take her hand and says, "We'll take care of this together, Jos. Honestly, I wish you had told me all of this before. What did you think I would do, get mad at you because you were accidentally cursed?"</p><p>She grimaces at bit and tries to pull her hand back, but Bill doesn't let her. He tightens his fingers around hers and sends her a look that makes her sigh.</p><p>"I was just…embarrassed that it happened at all, I guess," she mumbles; another half-truth.</p><p>Bill purses his mouth at her. It's clear that this reason isn't good enough for him, not that she's surprised. Bill's always worried about her. It's just a part of who he is.</p><p>"…Well," Ricardo drawls, raising an eyebrow at them. "Shall we speak of the curse itself? You saw Josie's heart, Weasley. Regardless of what it is that is cursing her, I think we can all agree that it is spreading fast."</p><p>The reminder has Bill leaning back as concern blazes through his eyes. "That's true. And you said you went to St. Mungo's?" he asks Josie, who nods dully as she takes a sip of beer.</p><p>"They gave me a few standard health potions, but none of them have helped," she responds. "The only thing that's helped is the Moondrops."</p><p>Ricardo quickly inputs, "And you will not be taking any more of that."</p><p>She huffs at him. "No, I won't. You don't have to worry. I'm sure Bill wouldn't let me even if I tried to get more."</p><p>Bill is in obvious agreement with this, if his determined eyes have anything to say on the matter.</p><p>"Well, I will wait to hear from Mauricio regarding his brother, and in the meantime, I will contact Juan Garcia and Fiorella Perez. You are right, I suppose. We should work on getting the rest of the coins since we have no other leads right now," Ricardo muses.</p><p>"Right," Bill nods. "And while you're doing that, Josie and I will see if we can break the curse through other means."</p><p>At this, Josie looks up at him in surprise.</p><p>Bill raises an eyebrow at her. "You didn't actually think I'd let the bloody Peruvian do all the work?" he asks, and sends a dry glance at Ricardo, who smiles breezily back at him.</p><p>"If it is any consolation, English curse-breaker, I told Josie to inform you of all this a long time ago," Ricardo says, much to Bill's surprise. He throws an arm over the back of Josie's chair and adds, "Alas, she is as stubborn as she is beautiful."</p><p>Bill shakes his head at him, but inside, he is in full agreement – not that he'd ever tell the bloody Peruvian that, of course.</p><hr/><p>Leaving Peru behind is both relieving and saddening. It is always difficult to say goodbye to the Vasquez family after her work is done, but she knows that she will be back. After several bone-crushing hugs, courtesy of Zanetta, and several final teasing remarks, courtesy of Isidora, Josie and Bill take their leave.</p><p>"You will look after her, English curse-breaker?" Ricardo drawls at Bill as he steps outside with them after the goodbyes are said. He is off to Lima, where the Peruvian Council of Magic is based, and so he will not be accompanying them to Fortaleza, where they will be catching their portkey back to England. This is where they part, and Josie is all the sadder for it.</p><p>She throws her arms around his neck and says, "I'll miss you, Ricardo," before Bill even has a chance to respond.</p><p>Ricardo chuckles and hugs her back, curling his arms around her shorter frame and purring, "I will miss you too, <em>querida</em>. I fear that your life will once again become boring and miserable without me in it, which is quite worrying for me."</p><p>Josie laughs. Bill rolls his eyes. The bloody Peruvian.</p><p>"You'll owl me if you find anything?" she asks as she pulls back, though she doesn't fully release him yet.</p><p>Ricardo sighs at her. "Yes, yes, I will owl you."</p><p>"And you'll take care of yourself?" she asks.</p><p>"I would rather <em>you</em> take care of me," he purrs back.</p><p>"And you'll – "</p><p>"Oh bloody hell, would you both hurry up?" Bill cuts in impatiently. Honestly, it's not as if they'll never see each other again. And would they both stop <em>hugging</em> each other?</p><p>Ricardo glances over at him with a smirk and murmurs, <em>"Está celoso de nuestro amor."</em></p><p>Josie rolls her eyes. <em>"Sólo está ansioso por volver a casa."</em></p><p>Ricardo only narrows his eyes on Bill and responds, <em>"Avísame si te lastima en mi ausencia. Será un placer viajar a Inglaterra sólo para golpearlo." </em>He smiles his innocent devil smile at Bill, though with a bit more solemnity.</p><p>Bill purses his lips at Ricardo. "What did he say, Josie? He looks like he wants to murder me."</p><p>"Now that is a thought," Ricardo says, raising his eyebrows speculatively.</p><p>Josie laughs at Ricardo and sighs, "I guess this is goodbye for now."</p><p>Ricardo hums and, mainly because of the jealousy that he can see burning through Bill's eyes, sighs back, "Yes, I suppose it is." Then – because Bill is now narrowing his eyes on him – Ricardo smirks and leans in to kiss her cheek.</p><p>It's really a short kiss that lasts only a few seconds. Ricardo Vasquez is, after all, more loyal then he first appears, and the kiss he administers to her is really more of a friendly peck, but it makes Bill's eyes absolutely blaze. He glares at Ricardo with gritted teeth, and Ricardo reins back snickers at the sight. Ah, if Bill really knew about Ricardo's life back in Lima, he surely wouldn't be as jealous as he is now. As it is, though…</p><p>"Mmm…I will miss you terribly, <em>querida,"</em> Ricardo purrs, smiling devilishly down at her. Bill glares at him from a few paces away.</p><p>Josie chuckles at Ricardo. She doesn't notice Bill's glare – well, not until Ricardo turns his full attention to him and smiles, "I will entrust Josie to you now, English curse-breaker. If I hear that you have hurt her, I will come to England and snap your wand in half."</p><p>As if the meaning behind his words isn't clear enough, the way his eyes gleam makes it all the more obvious that Ricardo is not, in fact, talking about magical wands. Bill stiffens at the threat and begins to scowl, until –</p><p>"Not that there is much to break, right <em>querida?"</em> Ricardo laughs, snickering loudly.</p><p>Bill flushes in embarrassment and anger<em>. "You bloody Per – "</em> he begins, but Josie cuts him off with a quick, "Ricardo, would you stop setting him off?"</p><p>"He <em>isn't</em> setting me – "</p><p>"That is <em>your</em> job, <em>querida,"</em> Ricardo purrs, innuendo clear in his voice.</p><p>Josie slaps her forehead and groans, "You know what? I don't think I'll miss you very much after all."</p><p>Ricardo puts a hand to his chest in mock offence. "How rude the English are!" he tsks. "You show them friendship and they throw it back into your face!"</p><p>Josie rolls her eyes at him and steps back to take Bill's hand.</p><p>"They don't even understand the differences between friendship and love!" Ricardo sighs, though Josie and Bill are already stepping out into the streets of Cajamarca for the final time.</p><p>"This is why you should have settled down with a hot-blooded Peruvian like every woman should!" Ricardo calls after them.</p><p>Bill gruffly draws Josie closer, wrapping his arm around her waist and sending Ricardo a glower. As for Josie, she merely shakes her head at Ricardo and presses back an amused smile.</p><p>"<em>Goodbye,</em> Ricardo," she says.</p><p>And Ricardo, well, he leans against the threshold and crosses his arms, somehow managing to look just as sexy as ever, and sends her one last purring smirk.</p><p>"Goodbye, Josie," he says back, and then watches her and Bill disappear. "I hope the English curse-breaker comes to his senses," he adds after they vanish, and then with a hum, he steps out into Cajamarca as well, carrying the spoils from the temple, and closes his eyes.</p><p>He imagines Lima and the home that is waiting for him, and then turns on his heel and disappears, too.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Translations:</strong>
</p><p>"<em>Tengo la moneda, como pediste." – I have the coin, as you requested.</em></p><p>"<em>Gracias por venir hasta acá. No tengo palabras para decirte lo mucho que te agradezco." – Thank you for coming all this way. I can't tell you how grateful I am for this.</em></p><p>"<em>Vásquez me dijo que fuiste maldecida. ¿Crees que es por esta moneda?" – Vasquez told me you were cursed. You think it was because of this coin?</em></p><p>"<em>¿Te pasó algo extraño durante estos últimos meses? Mala suerte, enfermedades inexplicables…" – Has anything strange happened to you over the last few months? Bad luck, unexplained illnesses…"</em></p><p>"<em>No. Mi hermano tampoco mencionó nada de esto. No existe el oro maldecido." – No. My brother has not mentioned anything like this either. There is no such thing as cursed gold.</em></p><p>"<em>Sin embargo hay un montón de historias sobre la maldición del oro." – There are lots of stories of the curse of gold, though.</em></p><p>"<em>Son mitos." – They are myths.</em></p><p>"<em>Aún así, ella ha sido maldecida. Muéstrale, Josie." – Even so, she has been cursed. Show him, Josie.</em></p><p>"<em>¿Lo comprendes ahora?" – You understand now?</em></p><p>"<em>Sí… Comprendo. Contactaré a mi hermano. Quizás él sepa más. Haré que Ricardo te escriba si descubro algo." – Yes…I understand. I will contact my brother. Perhaps he knows more. I will have Ricardo write to you if I discover anything.</em></p><p>"<em>Está celoso de nuestro amor." – I think he is jealous of our love.</em></p><p>"<em>Sólo está ansioso por volver a casa." – He is just eager to return home.</em></p><p>"<em>Avísame si te lastima en mi ausencia. Será un placer viajar a Inglaterra sólo para golpearlo." – Tell me if he hurts you in my absence. It will be my pleasure to punch him for you.</em></p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Never Forget about the Fiancée</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I may be changing the updating schedule to just Tuesdays for the time being, since there are a few things to edit in the next few chapters and I want to make sure I have plenty of time to do that. I'll have more to say on this in the next update though! In the meantime, hope you all enjoy this chapter!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  <strong>Chapter Twelve | Never Forget about the Fiancée</strong>
</p><p>Returning to England is always a bit difficult, at first, because Josie finds herself missing the Vasquez family quite a lot. The first week back is the hardest. Returning to work feels surreal, almost, after spending so much time immersed in what Josie has long considered her home away from home. Still, it's nice to be back in England despite the turbulent atmosphere of the country. The Ministry still refuses to believe that You-Know-Who is back, but Josie doesn't agree. She's never met Harry Potter personally, but she's heard enough about him through Bill to know that he isn't anything like the Daily Prophet is making him out of seem. After spending the last two weeks in the relative safety of South America, which is completely untouched Voldemort's power, being back in Diagon Alley is strange. But it's home nonetheless, and as much as Josie loves Peru, her heart is here in England.</p><p>Well, her heart is here in her office, come to think of it.</p><p>"I've started doing some research," Bill says as he approaches her desk several days after their return. Josie looks up from her paperwork and raises an eyebrow at the towering rolls of parchment that he's carrying. He kicks the door shut with the heel of his boot and strides forward to set them down on the corner of her desk before immediately starting to go through it all.</p><p>"Before all that, though, Artie asked me to give you these files," he mutters, taking a few folders off the top and handing them to her. He doesn't look up as he does because he's busy scanning the rest of the parchment, so he doesn't notice the surprised way Josie regards him. Utterly swept up in his task, Bill starts flipping through several pages and says, "I figure we should start at the beginning and work our way back, just in case you missed something. You'll have to bear with me, of course – I'm more familiar with Egyptian curses, but the foundations of any curse is always the same, I reckon…"</p><p>When she doesn't respond, he finally glances up at her, only to find that she's giving him a quizzical look. Bill pauses and sends her one in return.</p><p>"What?" he wonders. "You look surprised."</p><p>Josie leans back in her chair and haltingly says, "I just…uh, didn't expect you to throw more paperwork at me, I suppose."</p><p>What she really means to say is that she hadn't expected him to throw <em>himself</em> into all this paperwork. She knows for a fact that Bill is incredibly busy these days. Since their return to England several days before, Wright's given him several Egyptian cases on top of the all the paperwork they need to file regarding their expedition into Kon's temple. She suspects that Robert Wright is still displeased that Bill had gone off to traipse through the rainforest without informing him beforehand, and is taking it out on him by piling all of this extra work onto Bill's desk. The tosser.</p><p>Anyway – Bill has been so busy since their return that Josie has hardly seen him at all, other than the brief moments in the hallways where they exchange hasty smiles in passing. That he has taken to researching Incan curses on top of all of that is more than surprising – it's thoroughly impressive that he's able to do it at all.</p><p>Bill quirks a smile at her and sits down on the edge of her desk. "What, you thought I'd forget about your curse the moment we returned home?" He raises an eyebrow at her.</p><p>Josie sends him a look and replies, "No, of course I didn't think <em>that</em>. I just know how busy you've been lately. You're working what, three cases right now?"</p><p>Bill grimaces slightly and mutters, "Merlin, don't remind me, Jos. Wright's been at me since I stepped into the Egyptian department our first day back."</p><p>She sends him a pitying look. "You should have told him you were leaving on the expedition. I bet this is all because you just upped and left without informing him beforehand."</p><p>He hums in what sounds like agreement. "He's got control issues, if you haven't noticed," he responds, quirking another smile.</p><p>Josie laughs. "Yeah, I have. Anyway though, you should focus on your work first. This curse should come second to your other cases – "</p><p>"Don't be ridiculous," he interrupts, catching her eye with a solemn look. "You're way more important than Egyptian tombs, Josie. Besides, I wouldn't want the bloody Peruvian to get all overprotective and follow us to England." He looks slightly disturbed by the thought, which naturally has Josie laughing again.</p><p>"I really don't think England could handle Ricardo, to be honest," she replies with a smirk.</p><p>Bill rolls his eyes and mutters, "All the more reason to put this curse before my other cases." When he sees her expression turn a shade sterner, as if she means to argue, he quickly adds, "Let's reconvene after work hours are over. I'll come by your office and we can start sorting this all this."</p><p>He gestures to the stack of papers he'd dumped on her desk. Josie cringes.</p><p>"…Do we have to?" she asks, eyeing the research warily. "It's probably all stuff I already know anyway."</p><p>Bill's response to this is a simple, "Probably, but I don't know any of it and there might be something in here that you overlooked."</p><p>He might be right, of course. Where it concerns Incan culture, Josie likes to think that she's a bit of an expert. She's dedicated the last few years of her life to studying the ancient civilizations in South America, and with it, the curses they incorporated into their temples and holy sites. Oftentimes, though, it takes a fresh pair of eyes to point out the obvious. Bill's assistance could be just what she needs to figure out how to break her curse once and for all – a thought that she is only now realizing, as she looks up into his face and studies the determination lingering in his eyes. He seems resolved to help her, regardless of how much other work he has to do.</p><p>She sighs. "Alright. But bring along some of your Egyptian cases, too. Artie usually gives me a break after my expeditions to give me time to document everything, so I don't have anything else I'm working on right now." Bill seems a bit surprised by her offer to assist, so she just rests her elbows on her desk and says, "I can do some research for you. I swear I won't mix up the temples this time."</p><p>He chuckles at this, remembering all too well the fateful meeting a month or so ago, when she had accidentally mixed up the Hatshepsut temple and the Temple of the Aten. Josie chuckles too, willing to admit that it had been a very unprofessional mistake, regardless of her poor knowledge of Egyptian history.</p><p>"Alright," he agrees, pushing off from her desk. "But I don't want you getting distracted with my work when <em>your</em> curse is more important."</p><p>She nods in agreement and sighs, "Fine, fine. I'll see you later, then."</p><p>Bill sends her a smile and, as he takes his leave, says, "See you, Jos."</p><p>After the door closes, she finds herself smiling idiotically at the stack of papers, her heart warm in her chest.</p><hr/><p>"Don't tell me you're trying to learn Quechua?" Josie asks when she catches sight of the stack of books Bill brings with him later that evening. The moment five o'clock rolls around, he steps into her office with a cheerful smile and even more research materials.</p><p>He glances down at it as he lowers the books onto the table in front of her couch, and shrugs, "I'm not trying to learn it, just to familiarize myself with the symbolism."</p><p>Josie stares at him from her desk. Bill glances over at her and rolls his eyes, "Come on, then. We don't have all night."</p><p>She groans, "I'm already regretting this," as she drags herself across the office to collapse on the couch next to him. Bill chuckles at her, but she notices that he doesn't refute her words, which she takes as a bad sign that she really <em>will</em> regret letting him in on her curse. It's just – all this paperwork. It's already making her head spin.</p><p>"So, I looked through the Sami Manqus records to see what curses you dealt with, but I couldn't get very far without you. Where did you run into that inscription?" he asks, shuffling open the filed records that Josie herself had documented months before. Within the file are pages upon pages of descriptions surrounding the curses that were broken through, the temple's layout, tidbits of cultural and historical information linked to the temple, and everything else that a curse-breaker ought to know before delving head-first into volatile ancient magic.</p><p>It's a standard procedure when one returns from an expedition, regardless of where in the world it is. Josie is even now compiling a similar file on Kon's temple, which her and Bill had only just returned from. Gringotts prides itself on its vast records and documentation; all the better to exert power over other curse-breaking institutions that come around and ask to look at said information. Their goblin employers are nothing if not avid opportunists, for the right price that is.</p><p>"Page 6," is Josie's response as she leans into the couch and rests her head against the back of it. She feels Bill's eyes on her for a moment before the sound of shuffling papers can be heard as he flips through the file.</p><p>"…I guess you've probably already looked through this," he hums, scanning page 6 as he leans back, too.</p><p>Josie sighs. "I must've read through that file a million times by now. There's nothing in there that can help. If this really is the <em>maldición del oro, </em>then it didn't happen because I failed to break through one of the curses properly."</p><p>Bill taps his fingers against his leg and muses, "It just doesn't make sense, though. I mean, you can't get cursed just by walking through a doorway."</p><p>Josie turns her head to look at him. "You can by walking under an inscription, though. Don't you have anything like this in Egypt?"</p><p>He shrugs and turns his head to look at her, too. "Not that I'm aware of. I've gotten cursed a few times when I was just starting out, but they were all because I broke a curse out of order."</p><p>She eyes him curiously. Back then, they were still much closer than they are today, and they would write each other often. She hadn't heard of him getting cursed, though. "You never told me that," she says with a raised eyebrow, silently prompting him for the story.</p><p>Bill grimaces a bit and faintly asks, "…Didn't I?" Their eyes meet, and he looks a bit chagrined when he smiles, "I guess I was embarrassed for making rookie mistakes."</p><p>Josie snorts at him, and he chuckles. "The great Bill Weasley, making mistakes? Whoever heard of such a thing?" she drawls sarcastically, which naturally has him sitting up straighter and defending himself.</p><p>"I never said I was great!" he laughs. "I just had a lot to prove back then. Anyway though, the few times I did get cursed, they didn't last more than a few days. Wright knew exactly how to fix it." He pauses here and asks, "Have you spoken to Artie about this? He might have some ideas."</p><p>She hums low in her throat and murmurs, "I brought it up briefly a few months ago, pretending it was for my research. He didn't know anything."</p><p>Bill studies her closely. "…Maybe you should tell him, Josie. He is your boss, after all."</p><p>He can tell that this suggestion isn't taken very well from the way she immediately purses her mouth. When she mutters, "That would be a disaster, Bill," he can understand why she'd say so.</p><p>It would be a bit of a disaster, mainly because she's kept her problem to herself for so long. Had she told Artie about the curse earlier, perhaps the damage would have been mitigated, but as it is…telling him now would have consequences. Being cursed on the job isn't necessarily out of the ordinary for a curse-breaker, but there are certain procedures to fall back upon when it does happen. Hiding it from your employer is definitely not one of them.</p><p>Bill sighs. "Okay. Well, we can figure this out." He sends her a small smile and adds, "We can do anything if we work together."</p><p>Josie shoots him a look. "Are you going to keep spouting cliché shit? Because I might end up throwing you out of my office if you do." The teasing glimmer in her eyes makes it clear that she's only joking though, and Bill laughs.</p><p>"Alright, alright," he surrenders, and turns back to the file to study the inscription that Josie had written down in both its original Quechua symbols as well as its English translation. "Let's start with the inscription, then."</p><p>Josie leans closer to him to read the file over his shoulder and nods, "Right. Well, see, there are several translations for the Quechua symbols, so maybe if we rearrange them…"</p><p>They work for nearly an hour before a knock sounds on Josie's door, and Fleur pokes her head into the room. When she sees the two of them bent over their work, she smiles fondly and steps inside Josie's office.</p><p>"You are both working hard," she comments, stepping over to Bill's side. Josie keeps her eyes trained onto the parchment in front of her as Fleur leans down to press a kiss against Bill's cheek. "I 'ave come to say goodnight."</p><p>Bill leans back to smile up at his fiancée. Josie smiles too; a strained expression that she directs to the parchment she's jotting Quechua onto.</p><p>"What are you working on, anyway?" Fleur wonders, eyeing the papers and abandoned books scattered all over the table. They've spent the last hour going through case files from previous expeditions in hopes of finding similar inscriptions, and the whole place is in a bit of a state. Fleur appears somewhat hesitant about the sight.</p><p>"It, uh…has to do with the temple we just went to," Bill tells her. "Lots of paperwork to organize." He smiles reassuringly at his fiancée, who seems mollified by the explanation. Josie, however…</p><p>She finally looks up from her parchment to shoot Bill a look. It's only when Fleur bids them goodnight and takes her leave, though, that Josie asks him why he'd just lied to his future wife.</p><p>Bill looks a bit uncomfortable when he responds, "I just didn't think you'd want anyone knowing about your curse." He falls silent after that, ignoring the raised eyebrows Josie is still sending him in favor of returning to the Quechua dictionary and searching for the next word. She doesn't say anything further about it, though, and merely turns back to her parchment without responding.</p><p>That Bill would lie to Fleur for her is…strange. She's thankful for it of course, because this curse is rather personal and she'd prefer to keep it to herself, but it still surprises her. From what she's seen of Bill and Fleur's relationship, they seem quite close. Then again, what with the distance she's put between her and them, she doesn't really know their dynamic or if that is indeed true.</p><p>In any case, it doesn't do well to linger on those sorts of thoughts. She pushes them from her mind and refocuses on her research, and the pair of them fall into a long silence as they work. The silence is only broken when she happens to glance up a while later and exclaims, "Merlin, it's nearly eight o'clock!"</p><p>Bill lifts his head to glance at the time, looking a bit surprised himself. He leans back with a low hum and mutters, "Should we call it a night, then? We can pick up where we left off tomorrow."</p><p>Josie begins gathering the files up and stacking them into a relatively neat pile on the edge of the table. "I'm exhausted. All this reading is making me go cross-eyed."</p><p>Bill chuckles in agreement and begins to help her reorganize everything. As he stands up and reaches for his jacket, he turns to catch her eye. "You know…the spare room is still empty, if you want to – "</p><p>"Bill," Josie cuts in, giving him a look.</p><p>He sighs. "You're so stubborn, Josie."</p><p>She stands up too and, after one last glance around the room to ensure that everything is in order, they step out of her office and close the door behind them. "I'm quite comfortable at the Leaky Cauldron," she tells him as they head towards the lift.</p><p>Bill raises an eyebrow at sarcastically reminds her, "You're living in a broom closet."</p><p>She throws him a scowl. "A <em>comfortable</em> broom closet."</p><p>They banter back and forth about this as they make their way through the lobby of the bank and down the front steps. Then, at the bottom, they pause and fall silent, and Bill slips his hands into his pockets as he studies her.</p><p>"I'll see you tomorrow," she murmurs. There's something strange in his eyes as he regards her. It's gentle and quiet; cautious almost.</p><p>Bill smiles slightly and nods, "Goodnight, Josie. And if you ever get tired of your broom closet, you're always welcome."</p><p>And just like that, the gentle look is gone, and Josie rolls her eyes and shoves him playfully. Bill laughs and, in a more serious voice, adds, "Just be careful on your way home. Diagon Alley isn't safe after nightfall anymore."</p><p>Josie nods, "I'll be careful."</p><p>"Good. And you really need to go to Ollivanders to get your wand checked – "</p><p>"Goodnight, Billy," Josie cuts in with a roll of her eyes.</p><p>He pauses and chuckles, "Right. Goodnight, Josie."</p><p>They exchange smiles again – gentle, quiet – before they both part ways. And if those smiles linger long after they part, well, it's only because it's been a while since they've spent so much time together, and it feels rather nice – almost as it should be.</p><hr/><p>It strikes Josie as strange that her curse hasn't been acting up recently. The first two weeks back to England, her bad luck seems to have faded somewhat, and she hasn't had any bloody noses or coughing fits, or experienced any other ramifications from her curse. Perhaps it's because she feels so optimistic, what with Bill helping her and all. They've been spending quite a lot of time together since their return from Peru, and it's certainly made her wonder why she had been so adamant about not telling him about her problem before.</p><p>He's been incredible, really, despite the fact that they haven't made much progress with breaking the curse itself. They've taken to meeting in one of their offices after work hours to research curses. After finding a scant amount of references to curses placed on gold within Incan literature, they've taken to broaching out to other cultures to see if there is a common denominator. Bill has been busy looking through old Egypt cases too, in his spare time – even taking to bringing them back to his flat to continue his search. Josie keeps telling him that he ought to focus on more important things, but Bill is adamant about finding answers. He at least allows her to help him out with the cases that Wright had given him upon his return, though. Egyptian tombs aren't her thing, really, but it doesn't take an expert to research them, and she refers any questions she has regarding the culture or history to Bill, who usually has an immediate answer.</p><p>It's fascinating, really, how she's probably learning just as much about Egyptian curses as Bill is about South American ones.</p><p>By the end of the second week, Josie has grown more accustomed to their new routine. She's also grown accustomed to what's waiting for her on her desk, when she arrives at her office that morning. One look at the steaming cup of tea has her smiling giddily, as does the note that Bill had left along with it.</p><p>'<em>I have a good feeling about today.'</em></p><p>She sits down at her desk and studies the scrawling penmanship with a smiling sigh. When she lifts up the cup of tea and inhales the peppermint scent, she only smiles wider.</p><p>Merlin, but he really does make it hard to get over him.</p><p>"Devons, you've got the research material prepared for the meeting?" Artie asks sometime later, making a pitstop at her office door. He takes one look at her still-smiling countenance and raises an eyebrow at her. "You're in a good mood today."</p><p>Josie clears her throat, but can't quite erase her smile when she returns, "Yeah, I'm feeling pretty good. I've got everything ready for the meeting." She gestures to the stack of files she's spent the last week compiling during office hours and smiles at Artie, who smiles back pleasantly.</p><p>"Brilliant," he says. "We've pushed the meeting ahead an hour. Miss Delacour is getting the room ready right now, so make sure you're there in ten minutes or so."</p><p>Josie nods and Artie takes his leave, not noticing that her smile diminishes just so at the mention of Fleur. The blonde woman is a whole other topic that Josie has been trying not to think about over the last two weeks. Fleur is really quite polite to everyone she encounters, and in all the time that she's been at Gringotts, Josie has never heard of her getting into an argument or confrontation with anyone. Since her and Bill have taken to spending time breaking the curse after work hours, though, Fleur has gradually begun treating Josie a little more coldly. It hardly takes a genius to wonder why, what with Josie monopolizing most of Bill's time these days.</p><p>Josie has been going back and forth, wondering if she should speak to Fleur and explain what's really going on, but she's loath to tell the woman about her curse. It's not that she doesn't necessarily think that Fleur is trustworthy; rather, she doesn't much like the thought of Fleur knowing that Josie is struggling so much. It really all boils down to a matter of pride, if she's being honest. She's considered talking to Bill about it, too, but she hasn't been able to bring herself to. A part of her is worried that if she does, Bill might decide to spend less time with her, and Josie is a bit greedy where it concerns him. She's gotten used to rekindling her friendship with him, and even though she knows that it can only <em>be</em> friendship, she still doesn't want to let him go.</p><p>With a sigh, Josie pushes the peppermint tea away and thumbs over Bill's note. She studies it for a long moment before depositing it into the drawer of her desk, where several other notes have been stored. Bill's taken to leaving them on her desk lately, so she has a small collection by now that she can't bring herself to throw out.</p><p>Ten minutes later, Josie arrives at the meeting room, where Artie and several of their fellow South American curse-breakers are gathered. Fleur is placing glasses of water around the table, which is yet to be occupied. Artie is standing over by one of the windows as he waits for the rest of the team to arrive, so Josie heads over to him to wait with him. As she passes Fleur, she sends her a smile that is returned, if not a bit frostily.</p><p>Right. She really ought to talk to Fleur. As much as Josie wishes Bill would somehow realize that he's in love with <em>her,</em> she knows that it's just a pipedream. She doesn't want to be the reason for strife between them. It would only make her feel even worse.</p><p>"Ah, Josie, there you are," Artie greets. "We're just waiting on a few more, now." He rubs his hands together and glances down at the files in Josie's arms, looking gleeful. He always gets this way whenever there's a case meeting. Artie is just as passionate as Josie is, when it comes to South American curse-breaking.</p><p>The meeting is about their expedition into Kon's temple. They usually have a final briefing after an expedition is over, to go over everything and pass along pertinent information that might be of use in future cases. These sorts of meeting can be attended by anyone who is interested, so there's always a mix of curse-breakers from the South American division who attend. It's a bit of a learning experience, to keep up to date on the goings on of their fellow coworkers and to integrate new knowledge into their own agendas. It's very rare for a curse-breaker from another department to sit in on one of these, mainly because curse-breaking can be quite different from one culture to the next, and unless you have some expertise with dealing with Incan curses, the information therein will be rather useless to you. This is precisely why it is so strange when Bill steps into the meeting room some minutes later, immediately catches sight of Josie, and strides over to where her and Artie are standing.</p><p>"Bill? What are you doing here?" Artie asks, then pauses and laughs, "Ah, I forgot that you accompanied Devons on the trip. Wanted to wrap things up properly, did you?"</p><p>Bill responds, "Right. Just trying to be responsible." He sends Artie what Josie used to call his 'Head Boy' smile, and she holds back a snort.</p><p>Don't get her wrong or anything. Bill is very responsible, but he is also a Weasley, and he's been known to redefine the meaning of 'responsibility' now and again, mainly when it doesn't quite fit in with his goals. What those goals are this time, Josie doesn't know. She sends him a raised eyebrow, but Bill just smiles at her and doesn't say anything further.</p><p>It's not that out of the ordinary for Bill to be here, to be fair. He <em>was</em> a member of the expedition, after all, and though curse-breakers rarely attend meetings on subjects that aren't firmly set in their own departments, it's not necessarily strange. It happens every once in a while, when one wants to further themselves or get into a new area of study. It's a good way to form connections and get the run-down on how the South American department typically handles their cases. Each department goes about it in their own way, depending on the methods of their superiors.</p><p>This is going to be a particularly interesting meeting, because there are several ground-breaking things to cover that Josie, at least, has never encountered before.</p><p>Once everyone gathers in the room, they all sit down and Josie passes out the prepared files. Several additional curse-breakers make an appearance, so Artie duplicates his file so that they have enough. A bit of time is spent chatting about the typical travel methods, the magical boundaries around the temple, and whether or not Josie and Bill met any Curupiras in the rainforest.</p><p>"I've been doing some research on my own about them and I'm a bit curious," one of her fellow curse-breakers explains.</p><p>"I came across one when I was a young man," Artie muses, "though every time I tried to talk to it, he let out this annoying whistling sound. Nearly made my ears bleed."</p><p>Bill hazards a glance at Josie, who shrugs at him. He probably isn't accustomed to the laidback energy of the meeting thus far, and she can't claim to be surprised by that. She knows from experience how Robert Wright conducts <em>his</em> meetings, and they aren't anything like this. It's just how Artie does things, though. He prefers to take his time and discuss whatever his curse-breakers wish to talk about. They'll eventually get onto talking about the temple itself, but for now, Curupiras seem to be dominating the conversation.</p><p>"…What are those, anyway?" Bill leans over to whisper. He vaguely recalls hearing the name back in Care of Magical Creatures, but to be honest, his mind is drawing a complete blank.</p><p>Josie leans over to respond, "Dwarves, of a sort. They've got backwards-facing feet."</p><p>Bill hums thoughtfully. "I think I remember Professor Kettleburn talking about them."</p><p>She smiles at him and nods, "Sixth year. Charlie was obsessed for a while, remember? He always asked me what our lessons were about."</p><p>Bill rolls his eyes playfully. "Merlin, he did, didn't he? Though I think he was actually more interested in <em>you</em> than in the creatures themselves." He sends her a look that makes her mouth drop open.</p><p>"William Weasley – " she begins.</p><p>Artie glances over at them with raised eyebrows. "Are you two discussing personal matters? I suppose we should probably get to the meeting, then."</p><p>Josie pauses, and Bill watches in amusement as she collects herself and turns back to the table. "Right," she says, though as everyone is opening the files, she turns back to him and whispers, "That is not true."</p><p>Bill just shrugs with a grin and whispers, "It is true. He had a huge crush on you back then. It was so annoying listening to him moon about you during summer breaks."</p><p>She feels her cheeks flush just so and glowers at him. Bill only chuckles back.</p><p>The rest of the meeting goes according to plan, at least. Josie discusses the sorts of curses that they encountered, briefly goes over some relevant information about Kon, and when she gets to the presence of the Inferi, everyone seems quite surprised. Many questions are asked about them, seeing as Inferi aren't often come across in South American temples. Josie gives a run-down of the fight that they had with some input from Bill, and Artie mutters something about owling some of his curse-breaker acquaintances in South America to get more information on the subject.</p><p>"Fascinating," he mumbles as the meeting is concluded about thirty minutes later. "Quite fascinating – I'll have to look into this right away…yes, right away…"</p><p>He's still mumbling as he heads out of the room to return to his office, no doubt to make several inquiries. Josie shakes her head fondly at him as he leaves. Artie's eccentricities are rather endearing, after all.</p><p>"I should get back to the Egyptian department," Bill says as everyone files out of the room. "I'll see you later, though?"</p><p>Josie nods at him and pushes him towards the door. "Later," she agrees, and Bill sends her one last smile before disappearing.</p><p>Merlin, but he <em>does</em> make it hard to get over him.</p><hr/><p>When they do reconvene after work hours, Bill is saying goodbye to Fleur. Josie steps into his office with her arms laden with their research materials. One look at her makes Fleur's mouth tighten imperceptibly. Bill doesn't seem to notice, and just leans in to kiss her cheek before greeting Josie.</p><p>"Ready to get started? I had a thought today that I can't believe I didn't think of earlier…" he says, as he searches his desk.</p><p>Fleur raises an eyebrow at him but doesn't linger. She nods at Josie before taking her leave, making Josie feel rather uncomfortable as she walks past her.</p><p>"…Are you sure Fleur doesn't mind you spending all this time with me?" she tentatively asks after the French woman shuts the door behind her. She doesn't look over at Bill upon voicing this question, but she can see him glance at her out of the corner of his eye.</p><p>He pauses for a moment before slowly responding, "I'm sure she understands." He looks a bit hesitant about this subject, though.</p><p>Josie eyes him for a moment before murmuring, "…Maybe you should just tell her what we're really doing."</p><p>He seems surprised at the suggestion. "Really?" he asks. "Are you sure? I thought you wanted to keep this private."</p><p>Josie grimaces. "I just don't want this to come between you or anything. She, uh, didn't look very happy just now."</p><p>Bill seems surprised by this, too. He glances at the door that his fiancée had just exited and hums. "…I'll talk to her, then. As long as you're okay with it, of course."</p><p>Josie isn't really okay with it, but she also doesn't want Fleur to jump to conclusions about what they're actually doing.</p><p>"Anyway," she says, "what was that thought you had?" She sets her things down on his desk and leans against it, catching his eye curiously.</p><p>Bill, recalling his previous words, grins, "The Curse of the Pharaoh, Josie. Whoever disturbs a Pharaoh mummy ends up getting it. Bad luck, illnesses – it's practically the same thing, only it's been researched a lot more than whatever you've got, so there's a known cure."</p><p>Josie is quite interested now. She's heard of this curse before, of course. It is very well-known in the curse-breaking world. Even muggles know about it. She tilts her head and peers down at a scrap of parchment that Bill had jotted some information on, detailing several key points that he recalls of the curse. They do coincide with her own.</p><p>"This might hold the answer to breaking your curse," he tells her. "We just have to look into it a bit more. I've never come across it on the field, myself, so I don't know how it's dealt with."</p><p>It does sound promising, but still…</p><p>"I don't know, Bill…I mean, we know that the gold is the reason I'm cursed. I still think we should just get Catalina to do the ritual. She's a bit creepy, but we haven't really found anything else," she hedges.</p><p>Bill purses his mouth at this and responds, "I'd feel better if we try to figure it out on our own, first. She should be our last resort."</p><p>Josie nods in tentative agreement. He does have a point, of course. Especially after finding out about the Moondrops, Josie's trust in Catalina has taken a downward turn.</p><p>"Did she tell you anything about the ritual she was going to do?" Bill asks suddenly.</p><p>Josie shrugs, "No, and I didn't think to ask. I guess that was a bit stupid of me, wasn't it?" She smiles in a self-depreciating way.</p><p>He shakes his head at her. "You've been stressed out about this for months. Of course you didn't think to ask. Don't be so hard on yourself, Jos."</p><p>Merlin, but he really <em>does</em> make it difficult to get over him.</p><p>They work for about an hour before Bill remembers the time. When he sees that it's nearing six o'clock, he stands up with a hasty, "Merlin, I've got to go, Josie. I'm – meeting a friend at the pub tonight."</p><p>She raises an eyebrow at this and leans back. "Well, we can continue this later. What pub are you going to?" she wonders idly.</p><p>As she begins to gather her paperwork, Bill pulls on his jacket and says, "Uh, I don't really know, actually. He said he'd owl me. I should get back to my flat though. Will you be okay getting back to the Leaky Cauldron yourself?"</p><p>Josie rolls her eyes at him with a laugh. "I'm a grown woman, Bill. I think I'll be fine."</p><p>He rolls his eyes right back at her and says, "Fine, fine, just making sure."</p><p>He isn't actually going to a pub, but he doesn't tell Josie that as they head down to the lobby of Gringotts. He hasn't had very many Order missions lately, but tonight he's got patrol duty. With his job monopolizing his daytime hours, whatever missions he does have are usually done at night, and if he doesn't leave soon, he'll be late. If he recalls correctly, he's with Mad-Eye tonight, and being late is something he'd rather avoid.</p><p>As they walk down the stone steps into the Alley, he turns to Josie and quickly says, "Bring the Incan coins tomorrow. I want to try out a few spells."</p><p>She nods, but doesn't get a chance to respond before Bill is turning on his heel and apparating away. With a raised brow, Josie stares at the spot he had just been for a few moments before turning in the other direction and beginning to walk down the street. Whatever it is he's lying to her about, it's probably none of her concern, right? She can tell that he's not being entirely truthful, but she isn't going to pry into his life.</p><p>Shrugging it off, Josie stuffs her hands into the pockets of her jacket. Alas, it isn't her comfortable, badass leather jacket she had sacrificed in Peru, but it at least keeps her warm. The evening is a bit chilly, but there's something about it that makes her want to linger instead of apparating directly to the Leaky Cauldron. Really, it's just as well that she does, because had she not decided to take her time getting back to her room, she would never have happened to glance into the window of Jabulani's Jewels and Gemstones. The sight of the small fang earrings resting just inside makes her come to a full and immediate stop.</p><p>A slow smile spreads across Josie's lips as she huddles closer to the window, tilting her head and studying the earring set. Sure, they aren't identical to the one Bill had, before he too sacrificed it in Peru, but the similarities are uncanny. Plus, who would have thought that she'd actually find fang earrings in Diagon Alley? They aren't exactly worn by very many people.</p><p>Josie ducks into the shop, which is thankfully still open, and steps up to the counter. She's never wandered into here before, mainly because she doesn't wear much jewelry to begin with. Besides that, it's a bit of a higher end jewelry store and she's pretty much been living paycheck-to-paycheck since graduating Hogwarts and moving out of her dad's house. Still, it doesn't hurt to inquire, does it?</p><p>"Can I help you?" the wizard behind the counter wonders politely. He seems a bit quirky, dressed in flamboyant robes of amber that make his brown eyes look deep and fiery. Though Josie doubts she's his usual customer (band t-shirts, jeans, and a jacket she'd purchased at the muggle charity shop near her hometown), he doesn't seem to mind her presence here and merely waits for her response.</p><p>Josie points towards the window and says, "Yeah, I'm actually interested in those fang earrings on display. I was – er, wondering how much they were."</p><p>The wizard seems surprised, and when Josie gives him a confused look, he laughs, "Ah, forgive me. I've had those earrings for ages now. I was beginning to think that no one would want them, and they'd just gather dust for all eternity." He chuckles and, as he walks around the counter to the window display, he adds, "Fang earrings aren't really popular, you know. Most of my clientele turn their noses up at them. But – the magical properties can be quite fascinating. These are cobra fangs. They're quite sharp."</p><p>Josie waits for him to set the earrings down onto the counter. He looks eager that she is interested in them, and is quick to give her the price, "They used to be more, you know, but I've had to drop the price quite a bit." He hastily adds, "That's not to say that they're in poor condition, though! The posts are sterling silver, and if you look closely, there's a bit of silver embellishment going down the side there."</p><p>Josie turns the small earrings over and hums, "They're really lovely."</p><p>The man beams. "Aren't they? They certainly look like they'd be your style."</p><p>She glances up and quickly says, "Oh no – they're a gift, actually. For my…friend." She grimaces out a smile and the man quirks a brow.</p><p>"Ah. Your friend must have quite an aesthetic flair," he hums knowingly.</p><p>Josie can't help but laugh at that. "Yeah, he does. I'll take them."</p><p>The man grins widely. "I'll wrap them up then, shall I? I've got a box around here somewhere…let's see…"</p><p>Five minutes later, Josie is stepping back into Diagon Alley, grinning to herself as she tucks her purchase into the inner pocket of her jacket. Bill is going to be thrilled when he sees it. She can already imagine how warm his smile will be when he opens the flamboyantly wrapped box (Jabulani, the shopkeeper, seems to adore orange).</p><p>The walk to the Leaky Cauldron only takes a few minutes. When she arrives, the street outside of it is eerily barren despite the hour. Through the windows, it appears to be relatively busy, but she sees no one lingering in the streets themselves. She's about to step towards the doors of the inn when a strange feeling captures her, and Josie pauses to look around.</p><p>It almost feels as if she's being watched. With a frown, she stands very still and peers into the shadows of the street, half expecting some ghostly figure to be standing there staring at her. But she sees nothing, despite the way her instincts are flaring up, and after a few moments of complete and utter silence, Josie shakes it off and continues into the Leaky Cauldron.</p><p>She's probably just imagining things. After all, it's not entirely safe to be walking around like this. The country at large doesn't yet believe that Voldemort has returned, but the rumors are enough to keep most people inside after dark. Still, the eerie feeling lingers even after she shuts herself into her small broom closet-turned-room, and that night she dreams that she is slowly decaying as her mind darkens into listless insanity.</p>
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<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Never let your debts come calling</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks for the reviews and kudos! For the next few weeks, I'll be updating this story only on Tuesdays. I need to go back through the next few chapters and edit some things, since I've decided I don't like what I've written ;D Ah, the terrible struggles of writing...I hope you're all having a lovely week so far though and I'll see you all next Tuesday!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  <strong>Chapter Thirteen | Never let your debts come calling</strong>
</p><p>The next morning, after realizing that Marcia's leaves are looking a bit droopy, Josie decides to bring her mimosa houseplant with her to work. Marcia needs some proper sunlight and, in lieu of everything that's happened recently, Josie has been a bit neglectful. She's got the perfect, wide windowsill in her office that she's sure Marcia will adore.</p><p>The sky outside is gorgeous and blue, so Josie decides against apparating to work. Instead, after preparing for the day and tucking Marcia in her arms, she steps into the Alley and walks. This ends up being her first mistake. She is still cursed, mind you, and while her bad luck has taken a back seat recently, it is still there lingering in the peripherals of her life.</p><p>Diagon Alley is always at its busiest in the morning, these days. There is a crowd of people walking to and fro, doing their shopping and running errands. In light of the atmosphere, Josie finds herself in a very pleasant mood. She's been quite happy of late, mainly because of Bill, and she's humming beneath her breath as she dodges shoppers and makes her way to Gringotts. It isn't a very long walk. The Wizarding bank is located in the center of the alley, only a few minutes from the Leaky Cauldron. She's eager to get to work, and is in the middle of wondering whether Bill has left another note on her desk as he's been doing lately, and what it might say. The Incan coins that he had wanted her to bring today are tucked inside her pocket, and she's looking forward to hearing what new ideas he has about how they might go about breaking her curse. She's so swept up in these thoughts that she nearly misses the fact that she's walking past Knockturn Alley.</p><p>She ends up doing a double take, because for a moment she thinks she sees a hooded figure lingering by the entrance, staring out into Diagon Alley ominously. When she turns to look a second time, though, the entrance is empty and quite barren, for Knockturn Alley is far busier at later hours. Still, Josie slows down and studies the street for a moment as the eerie feeling from last night returns. Far in the distance, she can just about see Catalina's shop a ways down the street, and quite suddenly, a dull headache begins to form in the back of her skull.</p><p>She doesn't linger after that. Her good mood takes a dive as she continues on her way. In the two weeks since her and Bill had returned to England, she hasn't been to see Catalina, and hasn't heard from the witch in return. Perhaps Catalina isn't aware that she is back, or perhaps she is as wary about venturing into Diagon Alley as Josie is about going into Knockturn Alley. Whichever, she really ought to talk to Bill about it today. She doesn't much like the idea of him shelling out money to pay for the Moondrops, but she will pay him back the first moment she can, and it seems like a bad idea to wait much longer.</p><p>The memory of Catalina's flashing eyes lingers in the back of Josie's thoughts as she arrives at Gringotts. The lobby is relatively busy already, so she ducks around bankers and customers alike on her way to the lifts. This is her second mistake. As she's maneuvering around the lines of witches and wizards who are waiting to conduct their business with the goblin tellers, she ends up accidentally tripping into a rather stocky woman who is walking purposefully towards the doors. What happens next is perhaps partially due to Josie's bad luck, but if she's being logical about it, she would have to say that it is mostly that fault of the woman.</p><p>Now, Josie wouldn't describe herself as being clumsy, but on this particular morning, that is exactly what she is. Upon colliding with the woman, she trips rather spectacularly. In a flurry of cloaks, the both of them end up on their arses right there in the center of the Gringott's marble lobby. Josie lands hard on her hand as she falls back and drops poor little Marcia, whose leaves promptly close up the moment it makes contact with the floor. Dirt from the pot flies across the pristinely polished white marble. The files that Josie had tucked under her arm scatter across the way. The stocky woman she had knocked into, who had already looked quite distasteful, now turns to Josie and peers down at her as if she is the most repulsive thing the woman has ever laid eyes upon. Josie doesn't notice immediately, because she's too busy worryingly reaching for Marcia.</p><p>"I'm very sorry," Josie begins as she scoops the dirt back into Marcia's pot. "I'm afraid I didn't see you – "</p><p>"No indeed," a high pitched voice returns incredulously, "I certainly hope you look where you're going in the future!" A brief, hiccupping giggle follows after this, bathed in more incredulous disdain.</p><p>Josie is now on her knees, still scooping up the dirt that had flown out of Marcia's pot. Upon hearing this, however, she finally looks up, a bit taken aback at the woman's attitude when, truthfully, <em>she</em> had been the one to knock into Josie. Alas, bad luck uses many means to assert itself, and when Josie does look up, she happens to recognize the witch who is now getting back on her feet, tsking as she brushes off nonexistent dust from her very pink outfit.</p><p>Yes, Josie recognizes this woman. She'd have to live under a rock not to know that she is Dolores Umbridge, who had been wreaking havoc at Hogwarts all year long. Josie has read many Daily Prophet articles detailing her militant rule. The toad-like face cannot be mistaken.</p><p>Considering everything she knows about Umbridge, Josie should probably keep her mouth shut, collect her things, and pretend that this had never happened. However, you must remember that Josie Devonport is a Gryffindor, and despite her being down and out as of late, there are a few things that a Gryffindor finds very difficult to overlook, one of which being the sight of someone deflecting blame.</p><p>Josie frowns at the woman and responds, "I hope you <em>also</em> look where you're going in the future." She reaches towards the files she had dropped and stands up, lifting her chin as she turns to face Umbridge, who now looks as if she has tasted something quite nasty, for her mouth is screwing down into a disgusted, wrinkled glower.</p><p>The expression lingers for half a second before it transforms into a simpering, toad-like laugh. "Well!" she exclaims in her sharp voice. "What is your name, dear?" The large eyes lock with Josie's, a hard sheen surrounding the fake smile that stretches across her face.</p><p>"Why do you want to know?" Josie asks with a raised brow. She definitely isn't going to answer Umbridge's question. She knows better than that.</p><p>The toad-like woman simpers furiously. "I should like to know who has disrupted my morning so thoroughly, or perhaps I ought to ask one of these creatures. They appear to be your employers," she sniffs, glancing towards the goblins with a loathsome eye. The goblins, and everyone else in the lobby for that matter, are all eyeing her, as well, as they continue with their business, not appearing very keen to get in the middle of the confrontation.</p><p>Josie straitens her spine and musters her haughtiest expression. To be fair, it doesn't even hold a candle to Dolores Umbridge's haughtiness, but she thinks she makes a pretty stellar effort nonetheless. Umbridge's beady eyes flash, and Josie takes that as a sign that she's succeeding.</p><p>She stares at Umbridge for several moments before sniffing as well, and saying, "My morning's been disrupted pretty thoroughly too, so if you don't mind…" She trails off with a raised brow and waits for Umbridge to move aside. It takes several lengthy seconds before she does, but after a few beats of stifled silence, Umbridge sends Josie a strained, disdainful smile and hiccups out another laugh.</p><p>"You must be one of those <em>curse-breakers,"</em> she simpers, eyeing Josie's style of dress with a judgmental look. Her gaze lingers on Josie's Beatles t-shirt. It's clear that she isn't very impressed with her appearance – nor, indeed, with the notion of curse-breakers in general. Her upper lip curls.</p><p>Josie, impatient now and knowing that she's going to be late for work because of this, just sighs, "Yes, yes. Now I really have to be going. I hope you don't clumsily trip your way down the steps of Gringotts."</p><p>In hindsight, she will regret saying that, but in the moment, Josie thinks Umbridge's following expression is absolutely hilarious. Her face drops to open-mouthed shock at the apparent nerve, appearing even more toad-like. Josie, though, is already turning towards the lift, rushing to catch the doors before they swing closed. She doesn't look at Umbridge again, which is probably just as well because the woman is staring at her with intent disdain, the likes of which would have surprised even Josie Devonport. Yes – she will probably regret this moment, for it won't be the last she sees of Dolores Umbridge, but for now…</p><p>"Merlin, Devons, you're in a bit of a state," Janice from floor two says as the doors of the lift swing closed. She eyes poor little Marcia with a raised brow. "I didn't take you for a herbologist."</p><p>Josie is eyeing little Marica too, fussing over the plant as she stares at the root system, which is now partly visible because of the displaced soil. "I'm not, it was just a gift," she replies as she tries to cover the roots.</p><p>Janice hums and changes the subject, but Josie barely listens. When Janice gets off at the second floor some seconds later, she's still rushing to get her words out even as the door closes again, leaving Josie in thankful silence. The silence, however, doesn't last for very long.</p><p>As she enters her office, the first thing she does is look towards her desk, expecting to see another cup of tea waiting for her with one of Bill's endearing notes. Her heart drops a little when she sees that the desk is empty. Surely, Bill is already here, seeing as she's about five minutes late to work herself. He must have forgotten.</p><p>With a sigh, Josie steps over to the windowsill and places Marica down, silently berating herself for having such expectations. Bill isn't hers, she reminds herself. Just because he's taken to leaving her sweet little notes and making her favorite tea doesn't mean anything. They're just friends, and he's just generous and kind and perfect. His gestures don't mean anything besides a show of friendship.</p><p>This point is only further driven home when Josie decides to get some water for Marcia. After partially uprooting her after her fall, the delicate little plant could use a bit of extra love.</p><p>Her third mistake of the day is that she goes to the break room to get that water. If she'd just stayed where she was, she wouldn't have to witness Bill and Fleur's customary morning flirting over the coffee pot, but alas, bad luck seems to have returned to her life with a vengeance.</p><p>Actually, if Josie had been slightly more discerning, she might have noticed the slightly strained way in which Bill and Fleur are speaking to one another. She might've noticed that there is a bit of distance between them – more than usual, perhaps – or that, when she enters the room and Bill looks up at her, he appears strangely guilt-ridden. But she doesn't notice any of that, because all she sees is Bill and Fleur together, and she is blinded to everything else. This is partially due to the fact that, the moment she steps into the room, the wrist she had fallen on in the lobby only minutes before flares up painfully.</p><p>"…Morning," she hesitantly greets as she massages her wrist, and rushes over to the sink to fill a cup of water for her poor plant.</p><p>"Morning, Jos," Bill greets back, though his voice is a bit stilted.</p><p>Fleur merely says, "We will speak later, Bill," before slipping through the door and disappearing, leaving an equally silted silence in her wake.</p><p>"Did I interrupt something?" Josie wonders as the cup fills with water. While she waits, she rubs her wrist, wincing a bit at the soreness of it. She'd definitely landed on it wrong when she'd run into Umbridge, because it's more tender than it ought to be.</p><p>Bill clears his throat and responds, "No." His voice is a bit hasty, though, making it obvious that he isn't being entirely truthful. Josie doesn't bother calling him out on it. She isn't interested in getting in the middle of him and Fleur, and merely hums.</p><p>"Is your wrist alright?" he wonders after a moment.</p><p>Josie glances over at him, only to find that he's leaning against the counter, watching her. She turns the water off and says, "It's fine. Just, uh, ended up falling on it. Anyway, I brought the Incan coins." The hasty subject change seems to throw him off course for a moment, because Bill's gaze flit from her wrist to her eyes and he pauses.</p><p>When he doesn't respond, Josie raises an eyebrow at him. "Do you have other plans after work, or should we meet in my office again?" she prompts, giving him a weird look. He's acting a bit odd, really. She wonders what, exactly, she had just walked in on between him and Fleur.</p><p>The question seems to draw him out of whatever thoughts he's stuck in, because he quickly replies, "I don't have plans. I'll meet you in your office later." He sends her a hasty smile and strides for the door without a backwards glance, leaving Josie to stare after him with her eyebrow still raised skeptically.</p><p>Bill Weasley is always so laidback. Nothing ever seems to get to him, so it's awfully strange that he appears so out of order this morning. She hums thoughtfully to herself as she sets her cup of water onto the counter and decides to make some tea. Since Bill's been spoiling her with his morning gifts, she's been craving peppermint tea more than usual, and had gotten into the habit of sipping it every morning while she begins her work.</p><p>It's strange, though. When she opens the cabinet where the tea is kept and riffles through the options, she doesn't see any peppermint tea at all. The absence of it makes her tilt her head. She continues looking, wondering if she's just not seeing it. After checking every box and tin, though, she still can't find it.</p><p>Has Bill bought his own tea just because he knows she likes it? The thought makes Josie smile for half a moment before she rolls her eyes at herself and mumbles, "Merlin, Josie, don't be ridiculous…"</p><p>It's probably just been used up. That's why he hadn't left another cup on her desk this morning. She shakes her head at her silly thoughts and settles for some English Breakfast tea before heading back to her office. Honestly, she has got to stop it with these girly notions. They're only making her pine after him all the more.</p><p>True to her word to Bill, she's been doing some research for his cases in her spare time to offset some of his own work load, so she decides to start with that. Her daily agenda changes day by day depending on what's most important, and since she's at the end of documenting everything from their trip to Kon's temple, she has a bit more free time on her hands than she usually would. Bill had given her copies of the cases he's researching after she had reminded him that she's willing to help, though she has a feeling that he'd only given them to her as a peace offering of sorts.</p><p>She isn't sure how much help she'll actually be, considering Ancient Egypt isn't her area of expertise, so she's been focusing more on the basic research. See, when a new case opens up, each division first does their research on the ancient site. It saves a lot of time when the curse-breakers actually arrive there to break the curses themselves, because they have the proper background knowledge. The purpose of the building or temple is important because it gives you some indication of what curses to expect, and properly looking into the cultural aspects surrounding a site is even more important. That's what Josie begins to do as she opens one of the files Bill had given her and continues where she'd left off.</p><p>This particular case is for the pyramid at Saqqara, which was built as the final resting place for the Pharaoh Djoser. She's been researching it for some days now, and she has to admit that her knowledge of Egyptian culture seems to be improving since spending so much time diving into her studies of it.</p><p>By noon, Josie decides to turn to her other work. She finishes up her final reports on Kon's temple, heads to the research department to file them, and drops by Artie's office to let him know that everything is in order. He gives her a few other things to look into – not actual cases, but topics to research for specific temples that some of her coworkers are working on. She spends the rest of her day elbow-deep in books and paperwork, and breathes a sigh of relief when five o'clock finally rolls around. Her wrist is even more sore after spending the whole day writing. To be honest, she isn't really in the mood to spend another few hours cooped up in here doing more research about her curse.</p><p>When Bill arrives ten minutes later, though, one look at his smiling countenance makes her forget her unwillingness to stay. She greets him with a smile of her own and muses, "You look like you're in a better mood."</p><p>Bill pauses, and as he's closing the door of her office, sighs, "You noticed that, did you?"</p><p>Josie sends him a look. "You're my best friend, William. Of course I noticed. Is everything alright with Fleur?"</p><p>He doesn't appear very comfortable with talking about it, though. He gives her a flimsy excuse about Fleur missing her family, which she can tell is a lie, and changes the subject before she can ask anything else. Josie is just as happy to <em>not</em> talk about Fleur, though, so she doesn't really mind. She reckons it isn't any of her business anyhow.</p><p>"So, I thought tonight we could try a few spells on the coins," Bill suggests as he steps over to the couch and sits down. He stretches out his legs and shrugs, "It probably won't work, but we haven't tried anything like this yet, so you never know."</p><p>Josie joins him and sets the Incan coins onto the short coffee table in front of them with a nod. "Right. Worth a shot," she agrees, though inside she still thinks that she'd be better off going to Catalina.</p><p>Speaking of…</p><p>"Bill," Josie begins, "about the Moondrops…"</p><p>She means to speak to him about the money she owes Catalina, but Bill jumps to conclusions before she can finish her sentence.</p><p>"Is the curse acting up again?" he asks, blue eyes creased with concern. He reaches over to take her wrist and murmurs, "Your wrist is still sore, isn't it?"</p><p>Josie's words die in her throat. This is mainly because Bill turns to face her and pulls her hand into his lap as he begins to gently massage her wrist. His touch is as delicate as ever, his fingers just lightly pressing against her skin and barely applying any pressure at all. Whatever he's doing, it's working: the soreness begins to fade.</p><p>"…I…uh," Josie hesitantly murmurs, not entirely sure what she even means to say. "Right. The Moondrops, though – "</p><p>"I completely forgot about that," Bill responds. "Sorry, Jos. We've been so busy trying to break the curse that it slipped my mind. I'll get out some money tomorrow during banking hours."</p><p>Josie pulls her hand away (at great personal effort) and shakes her head fondly at him. "I feel awful making you pay my debts. I'll pay you back, Bill, I swear – "</p><p>He rolls his eyes at her. "Josie, you don't have to worry about it. Plus, there's still the matter of your wand. If you really want to pay me back, take as much time as you need."</p><p>She sighs at him, pretending to be exasperated, and rests her head against the back of the couch. "You're really too good for me, Bill," she tells him with a fond smile.</p><p>Bill only smiles back and chuckles, "Yes, I am, aren't I?" He laughs against when she playfully swats at him, and says, "That reminds me, though – before we get started, I got you something."</p><p>At this, Josie raises an eyebrow and watches his reach over to grab his coat, which he had dropped over the back of the couch. He draws a small box out of the outer pocket and sets it on his lap. It's about the size of a jewelry box – the same one that she has in her own pocket, for that matter, only it isn't wrapped in flamboyant orange paper. It isn't wrapped at all, actually, and it's got a bit of writing scrawled over the front that's too tiny for her to read. Josie leans in curiously, but Bill sends her a look and playfully says, "Be <em>patient</em>.<em>"</em></p><p>She laughs at him. "Well then, hurry up," is her only response.</p><p>He does, thankfully, when he waves his wand over the box and it suddenly begins to expand, returning to its original size. Josie watches its progress. The larger the box becomes, the higher her eyebrows jolt into her hairline, until at last the words scrawled over the top of it become clear. Of course, it's still gibberish to her.</p><p>"…'Witchtastic Crockery'?" she reads with no small amount of confusion.</p><p>Bill nods, completely serious. "My mum thinks they've got the best cookbooks. I'll tell you what – if you like the gift, you can even keep the box. I'm sure mum won't mind."</p><p>She looks up at him, hearing the telltale sign of an incoming joke in his voice. He's messing with her somehow. She narrows her eyes at him, but Bill only smiles and sets the box into her lap.</p><p>"Whatever you're up to, William Weasley, I will fi – oh."</p><p>Bill leans back and watches Josie pull out a jet black leather jacket from the tissue paper within the box. It gleams darkly in the light; perfectly renegade and beautifully rebellious. She gapes at it, then gapes at him, then turns back to gape at it again, looking quite lost for words.</p><p>"You got me a new leather jacket," she says, as if she's trying to put it all into perspective.</p><p>Bill hooks his elbow onto the back of the couch. He's always looked a bit more self-assured than any person ought to, but now he looks immeasurably confident as he smirks over at her, reading right through her surprise to the emotions beneath. With a nod at the jacket, he says, "Well put it on, then. Make sure it fits."</p><p>For a moment, Josie just keeps gaping, but then she hurriedly scrambles onto her feet and pushes her arms into the sleeves, pulling it onto her with a wide grin. The moment she's encased with dark leather, she feels insanely good. It's quite amazing, really, what a leather jacket can do to you. She breathes in the leathery scent, flips the collar, and laughs, "How do I look?"</p><p>Bill eyes her from the couch, taking her in with a musing expression. His gaze is strangely heady in a way she can't quite describe. There's something elusive therein, flittering across his face too quickly to capture; loaded and weighty in one moment, but gone entirely the next. It's still there in his voice, though, when he responds, "You look perfect," in a low tone.</p><p>For a moment, Josie has difficulty breathing. Beneath Bill's musing, mysterious eyes, her lungs seem unwilling to fill with air, and a lightheaded sensation overcomes her. But then Bill smiles at her, and Josie laughs that sensation away, forcing it back into the deep corners of her psyche lest it distract her from the moment at hand – and she throws herself at him to pull him into a great hug.</p><p>"You're crazy," she tells him fondly, wrapping her leather-clad arms around his neck. When his arms engulf her, too, the lightheaded feeling tries to return. His masculine scent washes over her, and she has to remind herself that nuzzling her face into his neck would most definitely be beyond creepy. She pulls back to catch his eye and gush, "Thank you, Bill."</p><p>He smiles again and shrugs, "Of course. But that's not all. I asked my dad to do a few alterations on it."</p><p>Josie pauses, raises her eyebrows, and glances down at the jacket curiously. Arthur Weasley is a bit notorious for magically altering objects from the muggle world. He likes to call them his 'experiments'. The flying Ford Anglia is a perfect example of his more eccentric ideas. Bill chuckles at the slightly wary look that blazes over her face and sits up.</p><p>"Here, there should be a button somewhere…" he murmurs, turning the flap open. Josie sits quite still as her wary curiosity is replaced with the sheer feeling of him so close to her. Bill doesn't seem to notice, because the next moment he grins, "Ah, here we are," and it pressing down a little button just below the collar, on the inside of the jacket.</p><p>The moment he presses it, Josie disappears. Her mouth drops open in shock. Her entire body has vanished, and only the slight imprint of her weight upon the cough shows that she is still there.</p><p>Bill looks very pleased. With a nod, he explains, "We thought it'd be useful, especially with everything going on these days…a bit of extra protection, if you will. The twins helped, too. They've got a product called Headless Hats which incorporates an invisibility charm…anyway though, it goes away after about fifteen minutes. My dad figured it was long enough though – "</p><p>"Do you mean that if I accidentally press this button, I'll disappear for fifteen minutes without being able to reapp – oh," Josie mumbles, because at that moment, Bill presses the button again and the charm promptly wears off.</p><p>He raises an eyebrow at her, "So, what d'you think?" When she doesn't immediately reply, he hesitantly adds, "…Is it too much?"</p><p>She shakes her head at him and laughs, "No, no. It's really great, Bill. I just wasn't expecting you to tamper with a leather jacket, of all things."</p><p>She sends him an amused smile, to which he grins. Pushing his hair from his face, Bill shrugs, "Just don't tell my mum. She'd throw a fit if she knew."</p><p>Josie laughs again and throws her arms back around him with a sincere, "Thank you. I love it."</p><p>The next smile he sends her has traces of that strange, elusive emotion behind it, but Josie is already untangling her arms from him and pushing herself back. "It's actually really funny, because I got you something, too."</p><p>His look of surprise successfully erases the final remnants of that unknown emotion. As he battles it down, he clears his throat and asks, "You did?" His arms drop back to his sides, bereft.</p><p>Josie is already stepping over to her desk, so she doesn't notice the way his eyes linger on her. She begins searching through the drawers, mumbling to herself as she tries to recall where she had put the little orange box. When she finally locates it under a pile of case files in the bottom drawer, she's beaming with excitement.</p><p>"I found it just the other night," she tells him as she reclaims her seat on the couch beside him.</p><p>Raising his eyebrows curiously, Bill takes the outstretched box and tilts his head at it. After a moment spent studying the shape of the box, he looks up at her, glances at her leather jacket, and says, "It's a fang earring, isn't it."</p><p>Josie's mouth drops open. His eyes glimmer with amusement when she exclaims, "William! You're not supposed to <em>guess</em> when you receive a gift! Merlin – you know what? Give that back." She lunges over to snatch the orange box away from him, but Bill lifts it just out of her reach.</p><p>"I didn't say I didn't want it!" Bill laughs at her.</p><p>Josie narrows her eyes. "I can't believe you. You completely ruined the surprise!"</p><p>"I'm still surprised," he assures her more seriously, though his eyes are still laughing.</p><p>She purses her mouth at him and he breaks out into a grin. The next moment, he's eagerly asking, "So can I open it, or are you going to steal it back?"</p><p>Josie rolls her eyes at him and huffs, "Open it, but just know that I'm not happy with you."</p><p>Bill smirks. As he begins peeling off the layer of orange wrapping paper, he innocently says, "We both know that's not true, Josie."</p><p>He will admit, of course, that the way she swats at his head is probably deserved. He ducks and, laughing, tosses the now wrinkled orange paper onto the coffee table. Josie watches him pull the top of the box off and study the fang earrings. She feels somewhat nervous for all of two seconds before Bill lifts his eyes to hers and smiles widely at her.</p><p>"They're great. I can't believe you found them, actually. I got my old one back in Egypt," he says, and lifts one out of the box to slip into his ear. As he's doing so, Bill chuckles and adds, "And since you've found a set, you can wear the other one and we'll match."</p><p>Josie rolls her eyes again and ignores that last bit. "I was surprised when I found them too. They're python fangs, just like your old ones," she says, and thoughtlessly reaches over to push some of his hair behind his ear as she admires the earring. He looks just as he ought to, now. She smiles.</p><p>Bill clears his throat and murmurs, "Yeah…very fitting," as he stares at her. The warm, elusive look is back in his eyes at full force. Josie studies it for a moment, rather liking the way it's directed at her, but it's gone a moment later when Bill smiles and says, "My mum won't be happy. She was over the moon when she saw that the other one was gone."</p><p>Josie chuckles and playfully responds, "D'you think she'll be upset with me for turning you back to your old rebellious ways?"</p><p>Bill chuckles too, throws an arm over the back of the couch, and sighs, "I guess you won't know unless you come and visit." He raises an eyebrow at her.</p><p>Josie grimaces. "Yeah, I guess you're right," she mumbles. "I never meant to push them away, you know. I just didn't want your mum to worry about me…"</p><p>She didn't want <em>him</em> to worry about her, either. Bill seems to know what she's really saying, and slips an arm around her shoulders and haul her into his side. He pauses for a moment before throwing caution to the wind and leaning down to press a kiss against her temple. He doesn't seem to hear the way her breath catches, because it gets lost in the sound of his voice when he says, "You're family, Josie. It's only natural for my mum to fuss over you. It's just what she does."</p><p>She sends him a slightly strained smile, battling the desire that rushes through her chest. She wants to pull him closer; she wants to get away from him. The confusing push-and-pull of her emotions drains her somewhat, so she just settles for a tired, "Yeah, that's true enough. We should probably start working, though, don't you think?"</p><p>The reminder that they aren't here to exchange gifts is enough to make Bill pull away just so. He nods, and turns his eyes to the two Incan coins that glimmer on the coffee table in front of them. "Right," he says, and starts rolling up his sleeves.</p><p>Perhaps he forgets that his arms are laden with several dark bruises from his last patrol, or maybe he just doesn't care all that much. Bill has always had the tendency of shrugging things off, so it's difficult to tell for certain. When Josie sees the bruises, though, she straightens up and promptly forgets that they're supposed to be working, despite the fact that she had been the one to remind him only a moment before.</p><p>"Where did you get those?" she asks, grabbing the arm nearest to her and frowning down at the bruise that curls around his inner forearm. They look like the sort of bruises you get from stunning spells, and the thought worries her. She lifts her eyes to his, only to find that he's already looking at her.</p><p>With a shrug, Bill replies, "I was practicing some spells a few days ago. Fleur wanted to brush up on her offensive spell work."</p><p>That's a lie. Fleur doesn't need brushing up on anything. She was the Beauxbatons Champion in the Triwizard Tournament, for Merlin's sake. She can throw a mean stunner and has a proclivity towards both offensive and defensive spells. Josie seems to take his explanation at face value, though. After all, in these times, it's not necessarily strange to get some extra practicing in. Still…</p><p>"She got you pretty good," Josie says with a raised eyebrow, and thinks back to the strange atmosphere in the break room that morning, when she had walked in on Bill and Fleur's conversation. Fleur had seemed oddly closed-lipped, especially when Josie had entered the room. She wonders if the French witch is angry with Bill for some reason. Frowning now, she asks, "You explained this to her, right? I don't want her thinking that we're…uh. You know. Anything but best friends."</p><p>She's be lying if she said that the way Bill's reaction to these words doesn't confuse her. His eyes flash slightly in what almost seems like guilt, and he pulls his arm out of her grasp with a strained, "She doesn't think that. Don't worry."</p><p>He doesn't actually answer her question, though. But whether he spoke to Fleur or not, that's his responsibility, isn't it? She really doesn't want to be the one to approach Fleur herself and iron everything out. Regardless, though, Josie doesn't have the chance to ask anything else because Bill is already pulling out his wand and waving it over the golden coins. She watches him mutter counter-curse spells for a long moment before deciding to just drop it. He obviously doesn't want to talk about it, so she won't press the matter. There aren't very many things that summons the tense expression on his face and she doesn't want to add to it.</p><p>After a while, all thoughts of that topic drifts away. Bill turns to perform the same counter-curse spells over her ("Better to be thorough," he says), but she doesn't feel any different once they are complete. Bill admittedly doesn't seem surprised by this. He tells her that he hadn't expected them to work, but it was worth a try nonetheless. This curse doesn't seem to be in the same category as the sort that would unravel from a simple spell, which he points out once he's used up all the potential counter-curses that he can think of.</p><p>"You said that Catalina mentioned a ritual, right?" he muses about half an hour later. "Ritual magic is usually a combination of spellwork, potions, and, well all sorts of things I suppose." He rubs his jaw contemplatively. They hadn't learned much about this topic back in school. Ritual magic is a subset of alchemy, and it's quite a complicated subject. What they did learn of it was only the very basics.</p><p>Josie hums. She's sprawled out over her end of the couch, her feet propped up onto the coffee table, still clad in her new leather jacket. The hour is growing late and she's getting a bit tired. They both are. Bill had taken his hair out of his low ponytail a while ago and it's now cascading over his shoulders. H's leaning back in much the same manner as she is, his legs propped up at the other end of the table as he ponders his latest thought.</p><p>"I bet there're some resources in the research department," he says after a few minutes of silence. "I'll look tomorrow. I reckon we should give it a try."</p><p>Josie turns to blink at him and asks, "Give what a try, exactly?" She really is quite tired.</p><p>"We're going to brew a potion," he explains as he turns to look at her, too, and studies the groggy look in her eye. He smiles in amusement when she wrinkles her nose at the thought.</p><p>"I'm awful at potions," she complains.</p><p>"Lucky for you, I'm not," he responds.</p><p>She groans.</p><p>"Look," he says, "tomorrow's Friday. We can go out and buy ingredients after work and spend the weekend making the potion – that is if I can find any information on it, of course. I'm sure ritual magic has been used before by Gringotts curse-breakers, though. I'll ask around. Ah – and we can go to Ollivanders while we're at it, since I know you haven't been yet." He gives her a firm look that makes her grumble.</p><p>He seems to be formulating a plan in his head, which makes Josie groan again because she's tired and she hates potion-making, and the idea of turning to ritual magic is making her even more exhausted. That is a rabbit hole that she doesn't particularly want to dive into. Bill, though, looks rather excited, which really only makes her feel even more tired in the face of his energy.</p><p>"Come on, then," he says with a fond laugh. "I suppose you ought to get home before you fall asleep. We'll pick this back up tomorrow."</p><p>He helps her to her feet and pulls her leather jacket tighter around her frame, studying her tired eyes. "…Want me to apparate you to the Leaky Cauldron?" he asks, sounding a touch concerned. "You look dead on your feet."</p><p>Josie waves him off and says, "No, it's fine. I hate side-along apparation."</p><p>He still looks a touch concerned but doesn't argue. They gather their belongings and make their way out of Gringotts. As they reach the bottom of the marble stairs outside the building, he turns to her and murmurs, "Well."</p><p>Josie hums, "Well," back, and they both smile.</p><p>He's staring at her again, but Josie is too tired to wonder at the way he seems to linger there beside her, not all that interested in walking away. They stand there together for a few lengthy moments, neither saying a single word, until a chilly spring breeze drifts over them and seems to pull Bill out of his thoughts. He runs a hand through his hair, which is still falling freely over his shoulders, and murmurs, "…Goodnight, Josie."</p><p>Yes, if Josie was more discerning, she would have wondered at the emotion in Bill's voice. But whether it's because she is blind when it comes to him, or whether it's simply because of her own exhaustion, Josie doesn't hear anything of the sort, and merely smiles, "Night, Billy."</p><p>His mouth quirks up a bit higher upon her use of his nickname.</p><p>"Right. By the way, you look great in that jacket," he says, still lingering.</p><p>Josie laughs at him and pushes him in the direction of his flat.</p><p>"So do you," she says, "I mean – the earring."</p><p>They smile at each other, their expressions almost bashful in the quiet moonlight.</p><p>"…Goodnight, then."</p><p>"Goodnight, Josie."</p><p>Their still both smiling as they apparate away…</p><p>But Josie's smile fades when she reappears in front of the Leaky Cauldron and happens to glance around the now empty street. A headache begins to form in the back of her skull, so suddenly that she frowns, and reaches up to rub at her temple just as her eyes clash with a hooded figure standing across the street.</p><p>She freezes, staring hard at the figure – until the door of the Leaky Cauldron suddenly bursts open and a few drunken patrons stumble out onto the cobblestone street. They don't pay her any attention, but their voices rise loudly in the silence as they chatter back and forth. She only looks at them briefly, for only a few seconds, but when she turns back to the hooded figure, it's gone. Stumbling back, Josie searches the street to see where the person could have gone, but sees no trace of the figure at all.</p><p>"…You're imagining it, Josie," she whispers to herself as she quickly makes for the door of the pub. "Just making things up in your mind…"</p><p>But she doesn't really believe it, and as she hastens up to her small broom closet room on the fourth floor, she finds herself relieved for the first time since moving in that there are no windows in here. She collapses onto the edge of her mattress and rubs her forehead, wishing she still had the Moondrops but knowing that there's no way in hell she'd ever go back to Catalina to buy more. She isn't very tired anymore and feels too creeped out to get changed into her pajamas, so instead she just huddles deeper into her new leather jacket and focuses on breathing evenly through the dull pain that crashes through her head.</p><p>Despite her previous exhaustion, she sleeps very fitfully that night.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Never talk to yourself like a loon</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hope you're all having a lovely week :)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  <strong>Chapter Fourteen | Never talk to yourself like a loon</strong>
</p><p>The next day, Josie has a busy morning. She doesn't even have a chance to sit down at her desk before she's off to meet with Artie, who has a new Mayan case for her to look into.</p><p>"Ahau-Kin," he tells her when she sits down with him. "The Mayan god of the underworld. The Mexican Council just discovered his temple. Since they've worked closely with us in the past, they expressed interest in bringing on some foreign curse-breakers. If it all works out, you may even have the chance to go there yourself, Josie," he eagerly tells her. "'Course, you're on research duty first." This last part is gleefully added, and Josie groans.</p><p>"Right, right. Research," she mumbles, and takes the file Artie hands her.</p><p>She loves researching temples, but it feels as if she's been doing nothing but that for the last two weeks. Her thoughts are all jumbled together. With her own work to do, helping out with Bill's Egyptian cases, and exploring methods of breaking her curse, she feels as if her mind is spinning constantly these days.</p><p>That's probably why she doesn't noticed the cup of tea waiting for her on her desk when she had first arrived, before coming to see Artie. She sees it when she heads back to her office, though, the case file for Ahau-Kin's temple tucked under her arm and a headache dully blazing through her skull. When she tosses the file onto her desk and collapses into her chair, the fresh scent of peppermint does wonders at clearing her mind.</p><p>Bill. He's too good for her, really. A slow smile spreads over her face as she reaches for the cup and takes a sip. The moment she swallows, her headache seems to melt away with the invigorating scent of mint, and she sighs happily. Her thoughts drift to last night, and her smile only grows when she sees the note that's waiting for her beside the saucer.</p><p>'<em>I want to speak to you,'</em> it says. <em>'Come and see me.'</em></p><p>Josie studies it for a long moment before she can no longer keep her grin at bay, and she takes a moment to do something incredibly childish. Right, well, she'll never tell anything that she spends the next minute spinning around in her office chair while she grins like a loon. Some secrets ought to be brought to the grave.</p><p>"He wants to speak to me," she sighs to herself, tilting her head up at the ceiling and closing her eyes, and then finally realizes that she sounds like one of those fourth-year girls sighing after their first crush.</p><p>Right. She is a grown woman. She does not sigh over men.</p><p>"You are a fully functional member of society, Josie," she tells herself with a firm nod.</p><p>"Are you, though? Sometimes I wonder," Bill drawls from the doorway, and Josie jumps so high into the air that he is actually a bit concerned for her. Well, he's mainly concerned at the way she slams her hand against the side of her desk in the process, but he digresses.</p><p>"Bill!" she gasps. "Did you – oh bollocks, you did, didn't you?" she mumbles nonsensically.</p><p>He tries not to laugh, really, but it's a bit hard. "Did I what? Witness you talking to yourself again?" he asks as he crosses his arms and leans against the threshold of her office. He grins at her. She blushes and groans in embarrassment, so he takes pity on her and chuckles, "I think it's cute that you talk to yourself, Jos. In a crazy sort of way, you know?"</p><p>Still blushing, Josie huffs, "Oh shove off. What did you want to talk to me about, anyway?" She reaches out to touch the side of the note he'd left, and looks up at him curiously.</p><p>He shrugs, and lifts up a book she hadn't noticed he was holding. "I stumbled upon this in the research department. I reckon there're a few potions in here that might work. It covers a bit of ritual magic that should help us. You're all set to go out later, right? I want to leave before the shops close for the day."</p><p>She eyes the book, but doesn't argue with him about his latest plan and just says, "Yeah, I'll be ready at five. Meet you in the lobby?"</p><p>Bill nods, still smiling at her, and turns to leave. Before he goes, though, he glances back and adds, "I <em>do</em> think it's cute, just so you know."</p><p>Josie blushes again, but Bill doesn't linger any longer and just grins at her before taking his leave. It's good that he closes the door behind him, because the moment he's gone, Josie grins like a loon again and takes another minute to spin around idiotically in her chair.</p><hr/><p>"Do you remember fifth year Potions?" Josie asks as she leans over to inspect a shelf of vials. She sees dragon's blood and armadillo bile and doxy venom, and her mind rushes backwards to recall the many years spent in Snape's classroom, trying not to blow up her cauldron after losing count of the number of times she's stirred her potion, because Bill was too busy doodling funny pictures of Snape and distracting her.</p><p>Potions wasn't exactly her best subject, which she thinks is sort of laughable because she's pretty good at cooking. The two aren't all that different when it all comes down to it, but Josie had never managed to convince the rest of her of that. She has a feeling that it's all the repulsive ingredients (bat brains? Eel eyes?), and can't really blame herself that much for it. Of course, she never thought she'd have to brew another potion after graduating Hogwarts. She thought she'd sworn off this shit.</p><p>Beside her, Bill quietly laughs. "You were <em>really awful</em> at Potions."</p><p>Josie doesn't even need to turn and look at him; she's swatted at him in retribution so many times that it's second nature, and Bill grunts when her hand connects with the side of his head.</p><p>"It's just a fact," he tells her. "You really <em>were</em> awful – "</p><p>"William, I am aware that I was utter shite. There's no need to remind me," she sniffs dramatically, and ducks around the shelves into the next aisle, which has many jars of eyes and other appendages floating in a motely array of colored liquids.</p><p>"Ah, good, we need some salamander legs," Bill tells her, and then returns to the previous topic and adds, "Also, you weren't <em>utter</em> shite, Jos. I reckon if you'd gotten over your hatred of handling the ingredients, your potions would've been fine."</p><p>Well it is true that she could rarely bring herself to properly chop up the ingredients, which was probably the reason her potions were so awful. Can one really blame her, though? Josie is a muggleborn. Before Hogwarts, cockroaches were things to be avoided at all costs. They were not supposed to be carefully sliced into uniform chunks and then added to a mixture that you will eventually have to consume. She was never quite able to get past the thought of these ingredients. Even learning about the incredible things that potions could achieve didn't mitigate her disgust. Whenever she landed herself in the hospital wing and had to take a potion for one reason or another, she just couldn't stop thinking about whether she was actually drinking crushed up spider legs.</p><p>Josie wrinkles her nose at the floating appendages in front of her and responds, "Which is why <em>you're</em> going to cut all this up, because if you let me do it, I'll definitely botch the potion."</p><p>Bill chuckles and agrees a little too easily, "Yeah, probably."</p><p>She elbows him for that and he laughs again as he locates a jar of salamander legs and hands it to her. "You can carry them, then," he winks. She grouses at him but doesn't argue.</p><p>The Potions shop they've stepped into is due to close soon, so they don't have a lot of time to gather everything. The potion Bill found is rather complicated, which means a wide array of ingredients must be bought. They've already talked about the logistics of their new pursuit on the walk here. Since her old Potions supplies are hidden in the depths of her school trunk back at her dad's house, and Bill's old school equipment had been passed down to Percy and then the twins, they had to figure out an alternative. Buying a set of scales, a cauldron, and all the other necessary equipment would have been a bit of an overkill just to make one potion. Luckily, Bill was able to borrow everything they need from one of his coworkers in the Egyptian division. It'll take a few days for the potion to brew, but Bill thinks it will be finished by Monday. They'll be heading back to his flat after they get everything they need and spending the evening putting it together so that it can simmer.</p><p>As they peruse the shop for the other ingredients on their list, Josie juggles with the jars and vials in her arms and reaches up to push a strand of her hair back. She glances over at him and wonders, "Where's Fleur, anyway? I would've thought she'd want to drag you off to dinner tonight or something."</p><p>It's a question that she's been working up her courage to ask, ever since Bill told her the plan for the evening. Spending time with him in his flat isn't necessarily strange, and Fleur herself had made it clear that she was alright with it, but that was before. These days, the French witch doesn't seem quite as alright with Bill allotting his time between the two of them, if the slightly frosty glances she's been giving Josie have anything to say on the matter. It seems a bit odd that Fleur would be okay with them shutting themselves into Bill's flat and spending the entire evening together, even if it's only to make a potion.</p><p>The question has Bill pausing for half a second as he reaches for several sprigs of nettle. He recovers quickly, though, from whatever emotion seems to have captured him, and merely replies, "She left this afternoon for France. She wanted to visit her parents this weekend."</p><p>Josie nods in understanding and murmurs, "Ah. Have you met them yet?"</p><p>She pretends not to notice the glance Bill sends her, and just rearranges the many jars of ingredients that she's balancing in her arms.</p><p>Bill shrugs, "Yeah. I've met them a few times." He opens the book he'd brought with him and consults the recipe they'll be using, beginning to double check that they've got everything.</p><p>Josie hums. "It's just strange, I guess. That you didn't go with her, I mean."</p><p>Not that it's any of <em>her</em> business, she supposes. She should probably just stop talking. Bill is very laidback and rarely lets anything get to him (Ricardo seems to be the exception, she thinks in amusement), but he seems a little tense right now as he flips the page to finish rereading the rest of the recipe.</p><p>"Well, I'm busy this weekend," he tells her, keeping his eyes on the page in front of him. For a moment, Josie assumes that he's talking about the potion, and feels her chest fill with warmth – until Bill adds, "I've got a business trip to the Gringotts branch up in Edinburgh."</p><p>Oh.</p><p>Josie, floundering a bit, repeats, "A business trip? You didn't tell me that. How are we going to brew this potion if you'll be gone?" She furrows her eyebrows and studies the careful expression that overcomes his face as he finally glances up at her.</p><p>He shuts the book and looks at her for a moment before slowly saying, "Well, I was hoping that you'd agree to come by the flat once a day to make sure everything's in order. You won't have to do anything – just make sure the fire isn't too high."</p><p>If her arms were free, she'd be crossing them right now.</p><p>"Let me just get this straight. You're going to leave a <em>simmering</em> potion in your flat, <em>unsupervised</em>, while you go gallivanting off to Edinburgh for – how long?" she clarifies, sounding a bit ruffled.</p><p>"I leave Saturday morning and come back late Sunday afternoon. It's not that long," he tells her, as if he can't quite understand why this is such a big deal.</p><p>Since Josie can't cross her arms, she gives him a pointedly raised eyebrow instead.</p><p>"Oh right, not a big deal. So if your flat ends up burning down, it won't be a big deal either. Or if the potion ends up exploding and sending salamander legs everywhere, who cares, right?" she sarcastically drawls at him.</p><p>Honestly, sometimes she thinks that Bill Weasley is a little <em>too</em> laidback.</p><p>Instead of admitting that Josie makes a good point, Bill just chuckles as if he thinks she's quite amusing, and responds, "You worry too much, Josie," as he sets the sprig of nettle on top of the pile in her arms.</p><p>Her mouth drops open in outrage. As Bill strides to the end of the aisle, she follows, spluttering, "You cannot be serious! Tell me you're not serious! <em>William</em> – "</p><p>William merely takes her shoulders and pushes her towards the counter, saying, "There are spells that protect against things like that, Josie. Don't you remember? Snape covered them in sixth year." Then he seems to remember that Josie didn't take NEWT-level Potions and chuckles, "Oh right, you didn't learn those, did you."</p><p>She glowers at him as he starts setting their ingredients onto the counter, where an older wizard begins ringing them out. Bill just smiles back at her.</p><p>She's still glowering after they pay and head back outside, so Bill throws an arm around her shoulders and says, "I see you like the jacket. I was thinking that I really need one too, you know? That way we match."</p><p>The joking tone in his voice makes her roll her eyes even as a fond warmth threads through her chest. She nudges him off of her anyway and sniffs, "I don't know, Bill. I think a leather jacket would ruin the effect of the earring."</p><p>He tilts his head thoughtfully at this and hums, looking at her from the corner of his eye. And suddenly the two of them are laughing again, as if they had never gotten into an argument at all (albeit a rather one-sided one), and Bill hooks an arm around hers and pulls her down the street. And when he pulls her towards Ollivanders, she's in too much of a good mood to even complain at his fussing.</p><p>Well, sort of.</p><p>"Bill," she sighs as he opens the door for her, but he merely pushes her into the shop without a word.</p><p>He is right, though she doesn't want to admit it. She should've come here ages ago, when she had first noticed that her wand was fractured. For all she knows, it might be a simple fix.</p><p>Ollivander isn't at the counter when they walk inside the quiet shop, but that doesn't surprise either of them. Bill merely taps the small bell to get his attention and they wait for him to make an appearance. He does a few moments later, walking out of one of the aisles with his arms laden with wand boxes. The moment he sees them, his face breaks out into a slow smile.</p><p>"Ah, Miss Devonport and Mr. Weasley. What can I do for you?" he wonders, moving behind the counter to set the armful of boxes down. That he remembers them by name isn't that surprising, either. Ollivander has a good memory, most likely honed from his particular job. Josie reckons it takes a strong mind to recall the many types of wands that he sells.</p><p>She reaches into her leather jacket and pulls out her wand. As she hands it over, she opens her mouth to explain the problem, but Ollivander's sharp eyes are already alighting upon the small fracture that is running through the handle, and he murmurs, "Now this is a problem…and how did this happen, exactly?" The question is accompanied with a flurry of activity as he searches around his counter for an eyeglass to take a closer look. Josie watches as he puts the wand onto the counter and holds the small, circular lense over the fracture. He taps the glass with his wand a few times to alter the magnification.</p><p>"I uh…don't really remember," she tells him, feeling a bit foolish.</p><p>Ollivander lifts his eyes to her for a moment before humming, "Well not to worry. It's small enough to fix."</p><p>Quite suddenly, Josie wishes she had come sooner after all. She's heard about wands cracking and had clearly been too afraid that hers wouldn't be able to be repaired at all. She releases a breath and, in a relieved tone, says, "Really? I thought for sure I'd have to buy a new wand."</p><p>Ollivander merely hums again and smooths his thumb over the fracture. "You might've had to if the core was exposed, but the unicorn hair is still well protected. I imagine it was acting up a bit, though?"</p><p>Josie nods.</p><p>"Yes…hmmm…well I believe I can repair it," he murmurs, half to himself as he leans closer to inspect it. "I'll have to hold onto it for a day or two, though," he warns her.</p><p>A witch without her wand is a bit of a conundrum, but since Josie is a muggleborn and rather used to life without magic, she doesn't mind (though, admittedly, it will take a bit of getting used to after so long). The only issue is that she won't be able to apparate without it. Some very powerful wizards can, but it takes more magic than Josie possesses.</p><p>"That's fine," she tells him, and glances over at Bill. He looks rather pleased at the verdict. "How much will it be to fix?" she asks Ollivander, praying for a low amount.</p><p>But Ollivander can't tell her, yet. "No more than a few galleons, I should think. I won't know for certain until I do some tests. It can be a bit volatile to repair a wand, you see," he tells her, and leans back to put his eyeglass away. "Come back tomorrow evening. I'll try to have it done by then. It's no good, walking around without a wand…times are changing, yes indeed…"</p><p>As they head back outside, Bill murmurs, "I wonder if you should've waited until after I come back from my business trip, just in case something happens…"</p><p>She just laughs at him. "What on earth could happen? It'll be fine."</p><p>She nearly tells him to stop worrying about her, but to be honest, she rather likes it when he does. It makes her feel warm and happy, and distracts her from all the other things in her life. Like her curse, and her headaches, and the fact that Bill is with Fleur and not with her, no matter how much time he's spending with her these days – or how much he seems to worry after her wellbeing, for that matter.</p><p>"Should we grab a bite to eat before starting the potion?" Bill wonders as the door to Ollivanders swings shut. He glances over at her, eyes sweeping over her curly mess of dark hair. In the light of the fading sun, it shines with a soft silvery glow, which frames her face in a way that makes his breath shorten ever so slightly. Of course, that could also be because of the way Josie turns to grin at him.</p><p>"Are you trying to bribe me into cutting up those salamander legs?" she asks, arranging her face into a mask of shrewdness.</p><p>He laughs at her and jokingly sighs, "Oh no, you've caught me." Then, taking her hand, Bill leads her down the street. They don't get very far, though, before he draws to a halt and turns his eyes to the sky.</p><p>"Come to think of it, though, we should probably get one more errand done before it gets dark," he muses. Josie is confused for some moments, until Bill pulls out a hastily wrapped package and explains, "We should pay Catalina back for those Moondrops. She said she expected payment the moment you returned to England, didn't she? I don't think it would be wise to wait any longer."</p><p>Josie takes the package from his hands and turns it over. It's really more of a piece of parchment that's been wrapped with brown paper, most likely to ensure that the galleons don't fall out of it. She glances up at Bill and sighs, "You're probably right. Shall we, then?"</p><p>Together, they walk to the entrance of Knockturn Alley. <em>Tesoros del Viejo Mundo</em> can be seen farther down the cobblestone street, squeezed between the magical taxidermy and divination shops. The light from the fading sun flashes onto the sign's golden lettering with a brilliant flourish.</p><p>"What's the plan?" Josie wonders as they step down the street. "Are we just going to leave it on her doorstep or something?"</p><p>She notices the Bill's hand is slipped into his pocket, no doubt holding his wand just out of sight. For now, there doesn't seem to be a need for such measures; Knockturn Alley is relatively empty, though the pair of them do get some strange looks from the few people they pass.</p><p>"No, I think we should leave it on the counter. Someone would probably take it, otherwise. And besides, it'd be good for Catalina to see the gold and accept the payment in person," Bill responds, then grabs her arm and pulls her closer as they pass a wizard with a crooked nose who is eyeing them cagily. "Stay close. You don't have your wand," he tells her in an undertone.</p><p>Josie shuffles closer to his side, dreading their destination. She's been hoping that they wouldn't have to actually see Catalina. <em>Tesoros del Viejo Mundo </em>looms ever closer. It doesn't seem to take as long as it had before to reach it. Soon, they are pushing the door open and stepping inside, and Bill is raising his eyebrows at the displays before him.</p><p>As before, the fading sunlight shimmers through the room, alighting upon golden statues and treasures the world over. For a moment, Bill seems quite taken with the shop, just like Josie had been when she first stepped inside. He looks around curiously, and in a low voice, murmurs, "I had no idea a place like this existed so close to where we work…" It is, after all, practically a curse-breaker's paradise.</p><p>Josie snorts in agreement. She had the same thought when she first came here.</p><p>Catalina doesn't seem to be nearby. Perhaps she is in the other room, whose doorway is currently hidden behind the tapestry which hangs overhead. Bill and Josie approach the counter, but after several long moments of silence, Catalina still doesn't enter the room.</p><p>"…Let's just leave it here," Josie suggests hopefully, and places the package on the counter by the register.</p><p>Bill looks like he wants to argue, but eventually settles for an uneasy glance around the shop and a muttered, "Alright. I don't think we should linger…"</p><p>Josie is in full agreement with this. Something feels distinctly off. That Bill feels it too only solidifies it within her mind. They bustle out of the shop with mixed emotions and begin making their way back up the street. Josie is relieved that they hadn't run into Catalina, but Bill is a bit troubled.</p><p>"Why was the door unlocked if she had stepped out?" he wonders in a low voice as they quicken their pace. Like before, Bill takes Josie's hand in his, and keeps his other hand in his pocket where his wand is located.</p><p>Josie shrugs. "No idea, but I'm glad. She probably wouldn't be that happy to see that I paid her back with galleons and not ancient Incan jewelry."</p><p>Bill frowns and murmurs, "This whole situation seems really off to me…" He sighs, glances down at her, and wonders, "Anyway, are you still hungry?"</p><p>Josie smiles at him. They end up in a small diner about fifteen minutes later, perusing the menu as they sit at a table off to the side. This isn't a date, she reminds herself when she orders. Bill is just hungry, because Weasleys have annoyingly large appetites.</p><p>As they wait for their food, Bill regales her with stories of Egypt. She's heard some of them already, of course. She hadn't started truly distancing herself from him until he began seeing Fleur, which wasn't even an entire year ago. Their friendship was a bit strained before that, of course, what with him being out of the country and all, but they were still a lot closer than they have been in recent months.</p><p>"So, when we got to the treasury room, the Pharaohs casket suddenly blew up, and from the pile of rubble this mummy started getting up and attacking us. It was a nightmare," Bill grimaces as he takes a sip of water.</p><p>Josie hums, "That's why I prefer South American temples. No Inferi."</p><p>"Well, unless you count that last one," he reminds her.</p><p>"True…Artie's still trying to figure that out. It really is an oddity," she says, tracing the edge of her glass thoughtfully.</p><p>Bill studies her for a moment. He rests his chin on his palm and murmurs, "Let's hear it, then." When she sends him a confused look, he clarifies, "A story of your most dangerous expedition. Don't skimp on the details."</p><p>She chuckles and leans back, thinking. Bill watches her.</p><p>"Alright, well, it was probably the expedition into the temple of Xipe Totec," she muses. "His name translates to 'Our Lord the Flayed One.'"</p><p>He raises an eyebrow. "Sounds gruesome."</p><p>She nods eagerly and leans forward. "Yeah, it was great. Ricardo came <em>this</em> close to walking right into a skin-flaying rune," she says, pinching her fingers in the air. "I mean, that part wasn't that great, really, but the rest of it was."</p><p>Bill grunts, "I don't know, that sounds pretty great to me." She sends him a look and he presses back a laugh.</p><p>"It took us nearly two weeks to get through the temple. There were so many curses, you could hardly take a step without running into more. One of our men nearly lost an arm, he was bleeding so much. There were a lot of slicing curses to watch out for," she explains. "Sacrifices made to Xipe Totec were really bloody. The Aztecs would flay off the skin of their captives during the Feast of the Flaying of Men, which was a month-long festival. They would then wear the pieces of skin during the ceremonies."</p><p>Bill's response to this is to muse, "Right, the Aztecs were big into human sacrifice."</p><p>Josie laughs, "Yeah, they were very creative. It was all for religious purposes, of course. I'm sure the Egyptian had their own sacrifices, though?"</p><p>Bill shrugs. "They did make human sacrifices during their feast days to appease the gods. And the Pharaohs would often sacrifice their servants so that they'd be buried with them and serve them in the afterlife."</p><p>Josie, who has done her fair share of research into ancient Egypt over the last few weeks, nods, "I remember reading about that for one of your cases. Speaking of, I've finished doing the background checks for two of them. I don't know if they'll be much help, but – "</p><p>"I'm sure it'll be a great help," he interrupts, smiling at her. "Thanks, Jos. You didn't have to."</p><p>The aggravating warmth clenches through her chest again. She somehow manages to brush it off and shrug, "You've been doing so much for me lately, it's the least I could do."</p><p>They exchange smiles, but there's something different about the look in his eyes this time. It's warm and molten and – it's probably because of the dim lights. Right. She's overthinking again and there's nothing more dangerous.</p><p>"How're you feeling?" he asks her suddenly, drawing her out of her thoughts. She's in the middle of silently reprimanding herself for thinking that there's more to his smile than there really is, and his abrupt question catches her a bit off guard.</p><p>"Um…fine," she haltingly responds. "Actually, I've only had a few headaches lately. No bloody noses or anything."</p><p>Bill seems to be cataloging this information. He remains silent for a moment before thoughtfully murmuring, "It comes in waves, then? I wonder if there's a pattern to it?"</p><p>Josie had, admittedly, never thought about that before, but she highly doubts it. "When I'm in a good mood, I don't usually feel the effects of the curse, but that's probably just because I can deal with it better in that state of mind," she responds, waving it off.</p><p>Bill hums thoughtfully again, but doesn't continue with that line of thought because their dinner is being brought over by a waitress and the scent of warm food always distracts a Weasley. Josie watches in amusement as he digs in, nods at her food, and says around a mouthful of mashed potato, "Eat, Jos, it's really good."</p><p>She shakes her head at him and sighs, "Don't talk with your mouth full."</p><p>He pauses to point a finger at her and respond, "Don't you go turning into my mum, Josephine Devonport."</p><p>She breaks out into laughter and exclaims, "Oh, the full name? That's a low blow, William Weasley."</p><p>He kicks her under the table in retribution, and they both erupt into laughter.</p><hr/><p>An hour later, Bill and Josie are setting up in the kitchen of his flat. Bill is laying out the ingredients on the counter while she prepares the cauldron and sets up the scales. She's happy to let him be the one to weigh everything out. The only ingredients she's willing to touch are the herbs they had purchased, much to Bill's amusement. It's obvious that she still hates potion-making.</p><p>"It isn't that bad. Fred and George put beetles into my stew when they came to visit me in Egypt a few years back. I didn't even notice they were there," he tells her as he teasingly picks up a dead beetle and waves it around at her.</p><p>"Bill," she warns through gritted teeth, and shoves his hand away.</p><p>He laughs at her, so she shoves the rest of him away, too.</p><p>As Bill starts chopping everything up, Josie reads the potion recipe and pretends to supervise, even though he's probably already memorized it. Bill was a great student back at Hogwarts. Even though Potions was never his favorite class (courtesy of Professor Snape more than the subject itself), he tended to excel at whatever he did. Josie was a good student too, in every class <em>but</em> Potions. Well, alright, she wasn't that fond of Herbology, and Arithmancy made her head hurt, and forget about Divination – but she still managed to get pretty good marks without having to apply herself too much. Anyway though, Bill has probably already memorized the recipe by now, but he doesn't seem to mind her reading it aloud nonetheless, and merely watches her out of the corner of his eye as he slices the beetles into little chunks.</p><p>As he finishes with that and begins to weigh them out, he grabs her wrist and hauls her closer to him, plucks the book out of her hand, and replaces it with the nettle. "You need to grind that into a paste," he informs her, even though she had literally <em>just</em> read the recipe.</p><p>She glowers at him and mutters, "Yes, I know."</p><p>He nudges her playfully and sets the mortar and pestle down in front of her. Josie sighs but acquiesces. As she starts tearing the leaves into smaller pieces and dropping them into the mortar, she mumbles, "I still think it's a bad idea, leaving a cauldron simmering unsupervised."</p><p>Bill shrugs, "It won't be unsupervised because you're going to check it."</p><p>"What if I forget?"</p><p>"You wouldn't forget if you just moved back into the spare room."</p><p>"Right, but since that's not going to happen, I <em>might</em> forget about it."</p><p>He sends her an exasperated look and says, "Well you'll just have to remember, otherwise we'll have to do this whole process all over again, and the next time I might make <em>you</em> cut up the beetles."</p><p>She frowns at him and mutters, "You wouldn't."</p><p>He nods seriously, "I would."</p><p>They stare at each other for a long moment before Bill can no longer keep his smile at bay, and he chuckles.</p><p>"I don't know why your siblings think you're so cool," Josie tells him, purposefully nudging him with her elbow as she reaches over to drag the scales towards her. "You're really not <em>that</em> amazing."</p><p>Bill's response to this is a blasé shrug and a breezy, "I never said I was."</p><p>"Well good, because you're not," she snaps back, though she doesn't really mean it. She thinks he <em>is</em> pretty amazing, but she'd never tell him. Unfortunately, she doesn't really have to, because Bill only laughs at her again and sees right through her.</p><p>Bill does most of the work with the potion. Josie is just as happy for it. While he starts adding ingredients and doing the precise counterclockwise stirring, Josie busies herself with making tea. She works around him until the kettle is filled and the water is boiling, and finds that she doesn't really mind not having her wand on her. Two hours later, the potion is finally finished. It will need a few days to simmer before it's ready, but there aren't any other ingredients to add at least.</p><p>"All you have to do is give it a few stirs if it starts looking a bit too green," Bill tells her as the two of them collapse onto his couch with fresh tea. There's a lot more to potion-making than that, of course. What Bill actually means is that she'll have to stir it three and a half times counterclockwise, but as usual, he doesn't seem overly concerned and Josie doesn't bother calling him out on his poor directions.</p><p>It's nearly nine o'clock already. They've spent that last four hours together and if Josie's being honest, she's a bit drunk on his presence. That's probably why she doesn't think about it when she leans against him and rests her head on his shoulder. All thoughts of Fleur Delacour float out the window, which is really quite dangerous but she's too happy to care, especially when Bill circles his arm around her shoulders and hauls her closer.</p><p>"I've missed you," he tells her, tilting his head back against the couch as he rests his mug of tea against his leg.</p><p>Josie hums in agreement, too content to think about how dangerous a sentiment like <em>that </em>is, either.</p><p>"Missed you too," she just says back, and has absolutely no notion of how dangerous it is for Bill, too.</p><p>He swallows against the lump forming in his throat and closes his eyes, quietly telling his heart to stop beating so hard. He's engaged. Josie is his best friend. He needs to keep his mind clear for his 'business trip'.</p><p>Speaking of…</p><p>"When are you leaving tomorrow?" Josie wonders, looking up at him.</p><p>She can't count the number of times they've been together like this over the years, but she's rather forgotten how perfectly comfortable his is – or how nice he smells, or how warm it makes her feel to curl up against his side. Bill has always had the ability to make her forget about all the grievances she's going through, no matter how insignificant they are. She'd forgotten about that, too.</p><p>With a yawn, he mumbles, "Seven, I think."</p><p>"You think?" she repeats, raising an eyebrow. "Don't you <em>know?"</em></p><p>He chuckles and she feels it reverberate through her.</p><p>"It doesn't really matter when I get there, as long as it's before nine," he responds.</p><p>That's true enough, but only because that's when the Order meeting is. Ah, right. This is probably the time to make mention of the fact that his business trip is actually not a business trip at all. Bill is on Order business this weekend, and his trip up to Edinburgh is really all fabrication. He doesn't really enjoy lying to Josie about it, but it's for her own good. He doesn't want her involved with the Order. It's dangerous, and Josie means too much to him.</p><p>Josie believes it, though, because she's never known Bill to lie about anything to her, and she doesn't think it strange. Gringotts has several branches in the United Kingdom. Their main branch is in Diagon Alley, but they also have branches in Edinburgh and Cardiff. For a while, the goblins were trying to open a branch in Dublin too, but they ultimately weren't able to get past the Irish Statute of Wizarding Independence and Autonomy (ISWIA), a very complex ordinance that keeps British influence out of Ireland. It's really a bit fluid though, if you actually have a look at it, because the Ministry of Magic still has a fair amount of power among its Irish brothers, though said Irishmen would naturally never admit it and would in fact be quite up in arms if one were to ever remind them of it. Anyway, that Bill is going off to visit Gringott's Edinburgh branch isn't that out of the ordinary and she doesn't think much of it. Besides, of course, that she'll probably end up missing him because she's a pathetic idiot.</p><p>They finish their tea in silence, occasionally saying one thing or another but mainly content to just sit there. At nine-thirty, Josie is starting to drift off and she decides that it's probably time to take her leave before Bill tries to convince her to just sleep in the spare room. He does look like he wants to suggest it when she stands up and takes their empty cups back to the kitchen, but thankfully he seems to decide against it, and just gets up to grab his coat.</p><p>"I'll walk you back," he says. "It's late and you don't have your wand."</p><p>Josie probably shouldn't take him up on the offer, but he's already buttoning his jacket and heading towards the door, so she just grunts in agreement and follows. It's a fair bit chilly out tonight, but summer is around the corner and in another month or so, the chill of spring will vanish entirely. She pulls her new leather jacket closer and falls into step beside Bill, who remains oddly silent as he walks. She knows him well enough to be able to read his silences, and this one seems strangely loaded, as if he wants to say something but isn't sure how.</p><p>Halfway there, he finally seems to find the words.</p><p>"So Tom told me something sort of odd," he slowly says, tilting his face up to the stars above them.</p><p>Josie raises an eyebrow at him. She hadn't been expecting that. He glances over at her and shrugs, "When I found out that you were living in that broom closet – "</p><p>"You mean when you followed me," she reiterates with an eye roll.</p><p>Bill pauses and shrugs, "Yeah, I suppose. Anyway, he told me you'd mentioned not wanting to be my Best Man. I just…wanted to know if that's true."</p><p>It's Josie's turn to pause. She hadn't been expecting <em>that,</em> either. Bill has turned his eyes back to the sky but she can tell he's paying attention to her reaction. She swallows awkwardly and tries to think of something to say that sounds believable, because she definitely isn't going to tell him the real reason for her saying that.</p><p>Her continued silence, though, is really answer enough, and Bill slowly says, "You know, if you really didn't want to, you should've just told me. I wouldn't have been upset."</p><p>Josie sends him a strained smile. "Right," she says, and presses down the wave of hurt that washes over her. After spending the last few hours basking in the happiness that comes from his presence, this feels like dousing herself in cold water. It's uncomfortable and painful.</p><p>"…Should I ask Charlie instead?" he asks when she doesn't say anything else, and turns to look at her.</p><p>She should say yes, but Josie is too pathetically in love with him to disappoint him, and even though she told herself she'd try to put herself first, it isn't always easy to do. She'd like to say it is, but when it comes to Bill…well.</p><p>"No, no, I'll do it," Josie breathes out, picking up her pace. "You really shouldn't listen to Tom anyway, Bill. He's a bit gossipy, haven't you noticed?"</p><p>He picks up his pace too. "Er – I guess. Are you sure?"</p><p>"Yeah," she says, clearing her throat. "'Course."</p><p>Merlin, what is wrong with her? Here he is, giving her an out, and she isn't taking it. Josie sighs and rearranges her face in a wider smile before turning to him and saying, "Anyhow, you can head back if you want. We're practically here."</p><p>The Leaky Cauldron is only a few buildings down, it's golden light spilling out onto the cobblestone streets. Since it's a Friday night, it's fairly busy within. Most of the tables are occupied and the bar is packed.</p><p>Bill slows to a halt and nods, glancing at the squalor within. He wants to tell her to just take his spare room again, but there's something awkward hanging in the air between them and for the second time tonight, he bites his tongue and keeps silent.</p><p>"Right. Here," he murmurs, handing her the key to his flat. "So you can on check on the potion," he explains when she gives him a confused look. Without her wand, she can't very well use magic to get inside, so she'll have to resort to muggle methods. "I'll take the protection charms off just for the weekend, so you shouldn't have any problem getting inside," he adds, and drops the key into her palm.</p><p>Josie nods and slips the key into her pocket. "Alright, then. Have a good trip. See you on Monday?"</p><p>He nods, taking a step back. That silence is there again, building up between them – as if he wants to say something else, but doesn't know how to form the words. Instead, he just looks at her and smiles slightly, but it's a strange smile, full of an emotion she can't identify. There is a secretive, almost wary quality to it.</p><p>"Monday," he tells her, and then turns on his heel and apparates away.</p><p>Josie stands there for a long moment, trying to figure out what emotion was lingering in his gaze, but after a while she just turns back to the Leaky Cauldron with a quiet sigh.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Never Undervalue the Power of the Mind</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Next update will be next Tuesday, and then I'm hoping to resume my twice-weekly updates for this story. I've had to make a lot of revisions in the future chapters and I'm not quite done with that yet.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  <strong>Chapter Fifteen | Never Undervalue the Power of the Mind</strong>
</p><p>Josie doesn't forget to check on the potion over the weekend. This is mainly because she can't forget about the key Bill had given her, and ends up turning it around her fingers several times a day. She's taken to keeping it in her pocket along with the Incan coins, not wanting to lose it.</p><p>She spends most of Saturday in her little broom closet room, catching up on the work she hadn't gotten to finish over the week. There isn't much of it to do, but with little else going on, she decides to tackle some of it. Mostly, she researches her new Aztec case, riffling through some of her books and jotting down information to look into on Monday, when she has more resources to choose from. She edits the research she had compiled for Bill's Egypt cases, too.</p><p>At four o'clock, she heads out to do some shopping and get an early dinner, browsing the selection at the stationary shop because she's running low on quills. She leaves the shop with a pack of inexpensive goose quills, because she doesn't want to spend the last of her current paycheck until she knows how much Ollivander will end up charging her for the wand repairs. She does some window shopping on her way to Bill's flat, but doesn't go into any other stores until she reaches a small fish n' chip shop, where she ducks inside to place a take-out order and tells them that she'll be back to pick it up on her way home.</p><p>Then, it's off to Bill's flat, where she lets herself inside and purposefully strides into his kitchen to check on the potion. It's simmering happily in the cauldron, the perfect shade of marine-blue. She deems it unnecessary to stir it, since it appears to be the right color, and decides to make herself at home for a bit while she waits for her take-out order. After making herself a cup of tea, she leans against the kitchen counter and thinks back to last night, when Bill had walked her back to the Leaky Cauldron.</p><p>She's been trying to figure out that strange look in his eyes all day. She's seen it a few times now, actually, since their return to England, but she's mainly brushed it off and convinced herself that she's been imagining it. She wonders, though, if she really is. She also wonders if he had properly explained their meetings to Fleur, who hasn't stopped giving her frosty looks. Bill is a bit too carefree sometimes, and doesn't always think about how others might view his actions. That he doesn't care overmuch for the opinions of others is something that Josie rather appreciates, but in this instance, she can't help but feel a bit uncomfortable about it. She wouldn't want Fleur to think that Josie is trying to get in between them. It doesn't matter that Josie has been in love with Bill for ages now; she still doesn't want Fleur to jump to conclusions that aren't true. It would only make things that much more awkward for her.</p><p>With a sigh, Josie finishes her tea and washes her mug. She doubts Bill would mind her helping herself, but she figures she ought to clean up. It is just as well that she does, really, because otherwise she wouldn't have seen the letter that's sitting on the counter by the sink, having been hastily dropped there some time before.</p><p>She sees it as she's drying the mug off to put back into the cabinet, and despite the fact that she knows it's a breach of privacy, she ends up catching sight of a word that makes her pause curiously. Tilting her head, Josie flips open the letter and reads the frankly nonsensical message, which says:</p><p>
  <em>P and P will meet you at 12.</em>
</p><p>Josie raises an eyebrow, rereads the message, and then pushes it back with a confused frown. Perhaps it's some joke from Fred and George? Though it sounds a bit too serious to be a prank, and the twins don't usually target their eldest brother these days. Back when Bill still lived at the Burrow, that was a different story, but he hasn't been the target of a practical joke for a while.</p><p>The odd message drifts out of her head after a while. She lets herself out of the flat, locks up behind her, and heads off to Ollivander's to ask after her wand. When she pokes her head inside, Ollivander is in the back room, but he comes out after she calls his name.</p><p>"One more day, I'm afraid," he tells her. "It's proving to be a bit more challenging than I thought, and I had an order come in today that I had to check in. Come back tomorrow and it should be right as rain."</p><p>Josie can't deny that she's a tad bit disappointed at this, but she just tells him that she'll check again tomorrow and takes her leave. She picks up her take-out on the way back to the Leaky Cauldron and eats in her room while she's finishing up some of her work. As she sits on her hard mattress, she finds herself wondering if Bill would mind very much if she does stay in his spare room, just for tonight until he gets back. She decides against it, though, after she realizes that he probably wouldn't mind at all, and would most likely use the situation to his advantage and try to wrangle her into moving in permanently.</p><p>Huffing at the thought, she continues her work and doesn't leave her room for another few hours, when she decides to go down to the pub for a drink. She isn't in the mood to get plastered and ends up sipping a butterbeer for a while, lounging in the back corner and watching the goings on of the other patrons until she gets bored with that, too, and goes back upstairs.</p><p>And so the rest of the weekend follows a similar path, and it isn't until Monday morning when her boredom finally breaks. She heads to work feeling rather good. Her wand is in her pocket, good as new, and Ollivander hadn't charged her quite as much as she'd expected. Good luck seems to be following her today, which is quite rare and she intends on making the most of it. However, just because she's feeling rather good this morning doesn't mean everyone else is, which she comes to realize the moment she heads off to the Egypt division to drop Bill's finished case files off.</p><p>She's eager to see him, so she doesn't even stop at her office first before heading up to his floor. When she knocks on his door and pokes her head in, though, what she sees is…well, a bit confusing.</p><p>"…Bill?" she asks, raising her eyebrow. He's sitting at his desk, but his head is bowed over his work as he scratches something down on a roll of parchment. Upon hearing his name, he looks up, and Josie stares at him in belated surprise.</p><p>"Josie," he greets. He leans back with a grimace and asks, "I was gonna go see you later today to give you this." He sets a familiar substance onto his desk, marine-blue and stoppered in a small potion bottle. Josie, however, hardly glances at it.</p><p>Bill obviously sees the way she's staring at the skin at the base of his neck, because he sighs but doesn't try to stop her when she marches over to him and reaches for the collar of his shirt. He's wearing one of his vests today, and beneath that, a light blue button-up that she thoughtlessly pushes to the side. Her action is in fact justified, despite the way it makes Bill blink in surprise at her sudden proximity: there's a half-healed laceration peeking out from beneath the fabric. It looks like it's been treated with some sort of healing solution – dittany, perhaps – but it obviously still causes pain because his eyes flash a bit when she leans over to eye it, and he stares at her with that guarded look in his eyes once more.</p><p>"…What is this?" she asks, when he doesn't explain.</p><p>Bill sends her an exasperated look and pushes her hands away. "It's nothing," he responds, "I got into a…erm, a pub fight over the weekend." His mouth quirks up. "The Scots, you know? They're a bit too passionate sometimes."</p><p>Josie lifts her eyes to stare into his and incredulously scoffs, "What did you do, go around Edinburgh throwing insults left and right?"</p><p>That doesn't sound like Bill. He doesn't get into brawls. He's much too clever, for one, and besides all that, he's far too laidback to bother. Sure, Weasleys have plenty of pride, but she's never known him to go around looking for fights. She narrows her eyes at him, thinking back to the bruises that she'd seen on his arms only a few days before, and watches him shrug.</p><p>"Well it didn't happen quite like that," he hedges, not appearing to be all that interested in giving her a proper explanation.</p><p>She purses her mouth at him. "Don't bullshit me, William. This is obviously the result of a wand fight."</p><p>He only shrugs again and dryly responds, "There <em>are</em> wizards in Scotland, you know." She raises an eyebrow at him and Bill waves her concern off with a sigh. "Don't get me wrong, I don't mind you fussing over me or anything, but it isn't a big deal – "</p><p>"I am not fussing over you," she denies swiftly. "And it <em>is</em> a big deal. You haven't even bandaged it properly! Should I go track Fleur down so she can patch you up?"</p><p>This has a rather strange effect on him. Bill immediately straightens up in his chair and blurts out, "No! That's – not necessary," in a voice that's a bit too hasty to seem normal. He takes one look at her raised eyebrow and slumps back down into his chair with a muttered, "I don't want to worry her."</p><p>Josie rolls her eyes. "Great. You'd rather worry <em>me."</em></p><p>Bill shoots her a look but doesn't deny this.</p><p>"Honestly," she mutters, "a grown man like you, getting into fights when you're supposed to be on a business trip…" She peers at him and asks, "How did that go, by the way?"</p><p>He looks a bit relieved at the topic change. "It went well. It was all standard stuff, you know. Transferring information and keeping everyone up to date on the current policies…"</p><p>She nods, but isn't sure what to say in response, so they just fall silent and stare at each other for a long moment. Bill seems to be waiting for her to take her leave. From the looks of it, he's quite busy.</p><p>"You know, I really didn't want to have to do this, but since you don't want to worry Fleur…" she trails off, eyeing the laceration that she can just barely see now that the collar of his shirt is covering most of it. She looks up at him and decidedly says, "I'm going to get Artie. <em>Someone</em> needs to patch you up."</p><p>Well <em>she</em> isn't going to do it. The sight of Bill on a <em>normal</em> day is usually enough to make her heart stop. She hates to think what'll happen to her poor heart if she sees him without a shirt. She might accidentally swoon, which is really never a good idea. There is a time and a place for swooning, you know, and it isn't now.</p><p>Bill looks a bit disgruntled at this suggestion though. At first, he appears rather surprised, as if he had expected her to offer to fix him up herself, but as she pushes off from his desk and begins to walk to the door, his surprise fades and he hurries to catch her wrist before she can disappear on him.</p><p>"That's really not necessary," he tells her. "I already had it checked before coming in today."</p><p>Josie looks back at him and sighs, "Are you sure, Bill? Artie's pretty good at patching people up. He's got a lot of experience with this sort of thing."</p><p>That's true enough. She's done field work a few times with Artie, back when she was still a newbie, fresh out of school. He's been a curse-breaker for decades now and can patch up an injury in no time. Having someone with a knowledge of healing is always a good idea when venturing into a temple. You never know what might go wrong on the job.</p><p>Still, she doesn't want to be one of those people who insists on having their own way, especially when it's clear that Bill doesn't want anyone to bother with him. If he isn't concerned, then she shouldn't get involved. It's not like it's her job to worry about him anyway. If anyone could claim such a right, it's Fleur.</p><p>Josie wrangles her wrist out of his grasp and says, "Fine, if you want to suffer then go ahead."</p><p>He sends her an amused look. "It doesn't even hurt, Jos." She obviously doesn't believe him, because Bill just changes the subject lest she start fussing again. "Since the potion is all finished, let's test it out tonight after work."</p><p>Josie stares at him for another moment before finally caving.</p><p>"Alright, fine. But you should probably tell Fleur about that cut, Bill. She's your fiancée, for Merlin's sake."</p><p>The reminder has his mouth quirk up, even though there's something in his eyes that seems to downplay his amusement.</p><p>"You're right," he tells her.</p><p>She pauses a moment longer before nodding and turning to leave, then stops and exclaims, "Oh! The whole reason I even came here to begin with – I finished up with that research and wanted to drop off the files." She hands him the folders that are still tucked beneath her arm.</p><p>Bill takes them with a raised eyebrow. "And here I thought you just wanted to see my handsome face," he laughs.</p><p>Josie rolls her eyes at him and playfully responds, "You know, one of these days you won't be nearly as arrogant about your good looks, William."</p><p>Bill just leans back against his desk and shrugs, "Impossible."</p><p>She shakes her head at him and, this time, really does leave.</p>
<hr/><p>When she does enter her office a few minutes later, Josie is surprised to find a letter waiting for her on her desk. One look at the scrawling penmanship and she's eagerly reaching for it, breaking the seal and unfolding it quickly. She doesn't even make it to her chair before she starts reading.</p><p>
  <em>Josie,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>You will be pleased to know that my charms work on all creatures. This should not surprise you, of course, since you are well aware of this already, but I am pleased to inform you that even brutish men have been known to do my bidding when I turn my charm to them -</em>
</p><p>Josie scoffs in amusement and walks over to the window of her office to lean against the windowsill.</p><p><em>I have convinced Salvador Moreno to give me his Incan coin and have included it in this correspondence. Like his brother, he is convinced that cursed gold is only a myth, but Mauricio did find some references to it after he had made some inquiries into the Bolivian curse-breaker societies. He must think highly enough of you, as he followed several leads to Mexico. You have heard, I am sure, of Cortés'</em> <em>treasure. I believe this is where such myths originated from and have included some of Mauricio's findings in this correspondence as well.</em></p><p>
  <em>Alas, I have found very little else of note, and have yet to locate Fiorella Perez or the boy who accompanied you on the original expedition. I have been very busy myself with several new cases in the Andes. Speaking of, did you hear about the Ahau-Kin discovery in Mexico? I am hoping to join the expedition, if I can convince the Peruvian Council to help fund it. It is of course under Mexico's jurisdiction, so I do not know if they will want assistance yet.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>In any case, I will continue trying to assist you with your curse, though I am hopeful that the English curse-breaker has at least been of some use to you. Have you made any progress?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Yours sincerely,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ricardo Vasquez</em>
</p><p>
  <em>PS I am still willing to travel across the Atlantic to punch the Englishman if you wish, querida. I expect he is just as thick-skulled as he was before.</em>
</p><p>Josie laughs to herself and folds the letter back up. Before she does, though, she shuffles out Mauricio's findings that Ricardo had included in the correspondence and walks to her desk to read through them. The Incan coin has been taped to the side of the parchment, so she pulls it off and lays it onto her desk with the other two. She has three, now, and just needs to track down two more. Progress is being made, albeit slowly.</p><p>To be honest, she isn't convinced that Bill's theories are going to work. Even his latest idea regarding using their own form of ritual magic seems chancy. He had mentioned the Curse of the Pharaoh some days ago but is still looking into it, so they have no other leads right now. She's half convinced that she should just go see Catalina after all. Sure, the woman seems a bit off and the whole Moondrop situation was strange, but thus far Catalina is the only person who seems to know explicitly how to break the curse. Surely it wouldn't hurt to go back and ask a few more questions, at least?</p><p>She decides to bring it up to Bill later when they meet after work again, and begins to scan through Mauricio's findings. It isn't much; mainly just more myths regarding cursed gold, only this time it has been transferred to Hernán Cortés rather than Francisco Pizarro. Everyone has heard about the lost Aztec treasure. It is a story that has fueled both muggle and wizard treasure-hunters for centuries. Montezuma II and his people had thought Cortés to be Quetzalcoatl, an Aztec god returned to the earth. They were welcomed into the city of Tenochtitlan and bribed with gold, for Montezuma had hoped that the offering might entice Cortés to take his leave of them. But it had only incited Cortés's greed, and before long, the Conquistadors began ransacking Tenochtitlan of its treasures.</p><p>It was only after a massacre of Aztec nobility that Montezuma and his people rose up in defiance of Cortés's actions, and drove them from their city. The Aztecs attacked the fleeing Spaniards and Cortés lost many of his men. More importantly, though, he also lost Montezuma's treasure. The location of this treasure has been lost to history, but they say that whoever finds it will be cursed to live a half-life, for it has been tainted with darkness and greed the likes of which will blacken a man's soul.</p><p>A thought enters her mind then, that perhaps the Inca had somehow recovered it and stowed it away in their own temples, but it seems highly unlikely. It wasn't long after Cortés's escape that Pizarro arrived on the shores of Peru in hopes of undertaking a similar venture. Just before Pizarro arrived, the Inca were just finishing a civil war that had lasted nearly five years, and so it seems far-fetched that they would have had the time or the resources to travel into Mexico. On top of that, there is no evidence that the Inca and Aztecs were even aware of each other. The Aztecs were expanding their empire southwards at the same time that the Inca were expanding northwards into Ecuador, but whether or not there was any form of communication between the two, no one knows.</p><p>She pushes the unlikely scenario from her mind and idly taps the parchment in front of her. She's done her fair share of research into the Aztecs and Mayans as well, and knows that the type of magic used by them was similar to that of the Inca. It is far more likely that the Inca placed their own curse on the gold, separate if not similar to the Aztecs.</p><p>Her mind is spinning with the remnant of another headache, so Josie tucks the correspondence into a drawer and decides to focus on some of the other work she has to do today. Ricardo's mention of Ahau-Kin's temple fuels her curiosity. Artie had only just handed her that very same case last week, so for Ricardo to make mention of it must mean that it has cultivated much interest in Central and South America. She decides to head off to the research department to find some resources that might tell her a bit more about Ahau-Kin, and ends up spending much of the afternoon buried her in research.</p><p>It is a good distraction from the confusion of her curse, at least, though not a complete one. She doesn't know if it's because she's been reading non-stop for hours or if her curse is acting up again, but her headache gradually turns into a harsh migraine by the afternoon. She ends up going to the break room to make a cup of tea, then remembers that they are out of peppermint tea and settles for something else. After a while, though, when it doesn't seem to help, Josie decides to take her lunch break in hopes that leaving the office and getting some fresh air is what she needs. She stops at the same corner café she sometimes goes to and buys a sandwich for lunch, but eating doesn't seem to do much good either.</p><p>By the time she begins walking back to Gringotts, her head is absolutely killing her, and it only gets worse when she happens to pass by Fleur's desk and sees her and Bill talking to each other in quiet undertones. Neither of them sees her, but as Josie walks by she feels her headache flare even more painfully and she has to tear her eyes away from the way Bill is holding Fleur's hand.</p><p>Her good mood absolutely disappears after that, because she can't stop thinking about Bill and Fleur for the rest of the day. The fact that Bill hadn't wanted to worry Fleur about his injury makes her grit her teeth. The soft words exchanged between the two of them has her frowning. She is forced to remember, once more, that even though Bill has been spending a lot of time with her lately, he belongs with Fleur. He's still engaged and that isn't going to change.</p><p>These thoughts are like bullets that sink into her mind like leaden weights. She cannot be rid of them and it becomes difficult to think about anything else. Her production levels decrease in the face of them; she gets very little work done for the rest of the day. It doesn't get any better later, either. When Bill swings by her office at five o'clock, he's acting a bit strange again.</p><p>It's like he suddenly doesn't seem to know how to act around her. He enters her office with a small smile that doesn't quite reach his eyes, and the first thing he says is a brief, "Can't stay long tonight. Fleur and I are going out to dinner."</p><p>There's something in his voice, though, that makes her wonder at his abrupt explanation. Some hint of that guardedness that she's been feeling from him lately. It sears quietly through his eyes when he looks at her, blazing with subdued warmth even as it glimmers with wariness. Why is he wary of her? She can't begin to imagine.</p><p>Well, perhaps that is just what happens, when someone has started to see things clearly. They are taken aback at first, because they had not been expecting it, and feel the need to keep their distance until they are able to figure it out fully. Josie doesn't really think too hard on the guardedness in his eyes, though, because all she hears is the fact that Bill is going out with Fleur, and so she only sends him a strained smile and doesn't linger on his expression for any longer than is necessary.</p><p>"You alright?" Bill asks tentatively as he steps towards her desk. Perhaps she looks more withdrawn than she'd thought, because he seems to be aware that something is off with her, too. Her skin is pale and she looks ill. He feels concern, bright and pressing, fill the spaces within him.</p><p>Josie just mutters, "My day <em>started out</em> really nice." It's obvious that it isn't ending very well, though.</p><p>Bill sends her a worried look and reaches into the pocket of his jacket to pull out the vial of potion he'd brought with him. He sets it down on her desk and murmurs, "I see you picked up your wand. How much were the repairs?"</p><p>She glances over at the wand that's lying beside some files and responds, "It wasn't that much, really. I think Ollivander might've given me a deal." He hadn't said that he had, of course, but when he was handing it over to her, he had mentioned that it was a bit more challenging to repair than he'd thought, and Josie suspects he hadn't charged her as much as he should have. If she had the funds, she would have asked after it, but as it is…</p><p>Well, perhaps when she's back on her feet, she'll go back and ask, just to be sure.</p><p>Bill smiles that guarded smile and studies her for a moment before saying, "Well, should we get started? Fleur and I have reservations for six thirty, so we don't have much time."</p><p>Josie just takes a breath, smiles back, and brings the Incan coins over to the coffee table, where her and Bill take a seat. When he sees the third one, he sends her a look of surprise and Josie explains, "Ricardo sent it just this morning. He managed to convince Mauricio's brother to part with it."</p><p>Bill grumbles a bit beneath his breath at this. "Well I guess the bloody Peruvian is good for something, at least."</p><p>Josie laughs at this and chortles, "Funny. He said the same thing about you."</p><p>Bill rolls his eyes and uncorks the potion.</p><p>"All we have to do is drop some of this potion over the coins and say the incantations," he tells her, evidently not all that interested in discussing Ricardo. Josie is a bit amused by that, but she forces herself to remain serious in the face of his explanation. This ritual he had uncovered is probably as far-fetched as the thought of Aztec gold ending up in an Incan temple, but it's worth a try.</p><p>"Seems a bit too easy," she can't help but point out, though she stacks the coins together nonetheless.</p><p>Bill seems to agree, but he reaches over to drop some of the potion onto the coins anyway.</p><p>She doesn't think it works. After he waves his wand over the coins and recites the incantations, nothing seems to happen. She doesn't feel any different, even though Bill tells her that it might take some time.</p><p>"It is a complicated curse, after all, so give it a few days to be sure," he tells her, though he sounds a bit doubtful.</p><p>She's rather doubtful herself, but Josie just nods and doesn't make mention of those doubts.</p><p>"Thanks for the help on those cases, by the way," Bill tells her as he corks the potion again. "Wright was impressed. He thought I was the one behind the research. You should've seen his expression when I told him it was you."</p><p>At this, Josie flushes a bit and, sounding a touch horrified, says, "You should've have told him anything. What if he makes me his research mule now?"</p><p>Bill laughs loudly. <em>"Research mule?"</em> he repeats with an amused grin. The guardedness of his eyes now vanishes fully in the face of his laughter, and he looks over at her with his blue eyes creased just so with warmth.</p><p>Josie shoves him playfully and laughs, "Shut it. You know how much Wright terrifies me."</p><p>Bill chuckles as he leans back against the couch. "He terrifies us all, Jos."</p><p>They laugh again. Until, of course, she asks, "How's your injury? Did you bandage it yet?"</p><p>This makes Bill's laughter die down. He sends her a look and sighs, "I told you, it doesn't even hurt. It's mostly healed already."</p><p>She eyes him from where she's sitting and responds, "It looked painful. You should get it checked again just to be sure – "</p><p>"You know, if you want my shirt off, you only need to ask, Josie," Bill drawls before she can finish, and the corner of his mouth quirks up when she stops to splutter at him.</p><p>"What?"</p><p>He shrugs, "You're being awfully adamant about this is all."</p><p>"I'm only worried that you'll bleed out because you're too stubborn to get actual help," she snaps at him.</p><p>He shrugs again. "You really do worry too much. I'm fine, I promise."</p><p>She huffs at him, narrowing her eyes dangerously. Bill only smiles back. Honestly, sometimes his laidback demeanor makes her want to throttle him.</p><p>After a few moments of silence, she turns to look at him again, only to find that he's still watching her. That expression is back on his face – equal parts wariness and warmth – and it makes her pause curiously as she studies it. There is definitely something off about Bill, but she can't quite put a finger on it.</p><p>"…Are you okay?" she wonders, and the question seems to make him snap out of it. He blinks, seems to realize he's been staring at her, and – is he blushing? The tips of his ears are red.</p><p>Josie sends him a weird look and Bill hesitantly laughs, "Yeah, 'course." Then, pausing, he turns his eyes away from her and reaches up to play with the collar of his shirt, just above where his injury is.</p><p>"Josie," he abruptly murmurs, "do you think Fleur and I…"</p><p>When he trails off, she murmurs, "…Do I think…?"</p><p>Bill clears his throat and laughs again, but just as before, it's a hesitant sort of sound.</p><p>"Never mind," he tells her. "I'm probably just overthinking things. See you tomorrow?"</p><p>He waits until she nods before he suddenly steps over to her and gives her a rather random hug, for which Josie is not anticipating. Completely bewildered, she pats his back and wonders, "Are you sure you're okay?"</p><p>Bill just draws back and studies her face for a moment, eyes guarded again, and murmurs, "I'm fine. Just a bit upset that the potion didn't work…we spent all that time making it, too."</p><p>She has a feeling that this isn't actually what he's upset about – if he's even upset at all, she still can't quite tell – but Josie just shrugs, "You said to give it some time to take effect. Maybe the magic will undo itself over the next few days."</p><p>From the look on his face, though, he is still doubtful, and wary again too, but when he says goodbye a while later and heads off to pick up Fleur for their dinner reservation, Josie figures <em>she</em> must be the one overthinking.</p>
<hr/><p>Josie doesn't see much of Bill for the rest of the week. He seems to have realized that, in the process of spending so much time trying to break her curse, he's been a bit neglectful of Fleur. It's been several days since they last met together in one of their offices after work, though she does occasionally find mugs of peppermint tea waiting for her on her desk some mornings. It seems, though, that Bill is making himself scarce a bit, which Josie has mixed feelings about.</p><p>On the one hand, she thinks that perhaps it's just as well. Getting too accustomed to his presence is probably not a good idea, especially since his wedding is creeping closer and closer. Spring is now coming to a swift close, which means that there is only about two months before they tie the knot. Josie tries not to think about it, because then she has to think about the fact that she is still Bill's Best Man and hasn't actually been doing any sort of planning for that. She's thankful that there isn't nearly as much planning involved as there would be if she was the Maid of Honor. Fleur's younger sister was given that title, fortunately.</p><p>Anyway – on the other hand, it's strange seeing so little of him all the sudden. Of course, she doesn't actually know it, but Bill isn't taking Fleur out every single night. He's been taking on more and more patrols for the Order as of late, so his time is being split in thirds between Fleur, his Order work, and breaking Josie's curse. He is still working on that; he just hasn't had time to actually sit down with her and continue their research together.</p><p>In any case, Josie has her own work to keep her occupied. She responds to Ricardo's letter and includes a few letters for him to forward to Isidora and Zanetta as well. She continues with her latest Mayan case for Ahau-Kin's temple. She also monitors her curse to see if the ritual magic Bill and her had attempted had worked. So far, she hasn't seen any changes.</p><p>She's still getting headaches nearly every day, and what's worse, she's started getting bloody noses again. Her bad luck, too, seems to have cropped back up. She hasn't had a chance to inform Bill of these new developments except briefly, during work hours. His reply is always the same: "I've written to a few of my colleagues about the Curse of the Pharaoh. They might be able to give us some new ideas."</p><p>So it's essentially a waiting game, and though Bill does seem to be increasingly worried about her, he's also incredibly busy these days, too. On top of everything else going on, Wright has given him a few more cases and has requested him to head over to Egypt to personally deal with one of the tombs there. Apparently, the curse-breakers on site are having trouble breaking through the final network of curses, and Wright is growing impatient because they've been at it for a few weeks already. Josie hasn't heard whether Bill had accepted or not. She imagines that it probably wouldn't take more than a few days – a week, at most – but she hopes he refuses.</p><p>Fleur does, too. During one of her breaks, Josie overhears the French secretary speaking to Bill by her desk.</p><p>"<em>We still 'ave so much planning to do, Bill. You can't just leave – the wedding is in two months!"</em></p><p>She hadn't stuck around to hear Bill's response to that, though she thinks he might've noticed her because she thought she saw his head turn in her direction as she left the break room with a cup of coffee to combat her latest migraine.</p><p>Bill has really been acting strange lately. She wouldn't go so far as to say that he's been avoiding her, since she knows he's got a lot going on right now with work and all, but sometimes it seems as though he is. Since he's still leaving tea at her desk and occasional notes, perhaps she's maybe just imagining it. After all, what reason would he have to do something like that?</p><p>One morning a few days later, she happens upon another note when she arrives at her office that morning, and raises an eyebrow at his latest message. It's quite nonsensical, really:</p><p><em>Leaky Cauldron, 4</em> <em>th</em> <em> floor, broom cupboard</em></p><p>What is he trying to do, convince her to move back in with him by reminding her that she's currently living in a refurbished broom closet? Josie studies the note for a long moment before shrugging it off and throwing it into the drawer with the rest of them. He is really acting odd.</p><p>She finds out why that is later that night, and rather wishes she'd been kept in the dark a while longer.</p><p>When Bill pokes his head into her office at five o'clock, Josie is a bit surprised to see him. She's getting ready to leave, having decided to call it an early night. That afternoon, she had another bloody nose and she's dead tired. Yet another headache has been dully ringing through her skull all day on top of it, so she's in a grouchy mood. When she sees him, though, a smile breaks out across her face and she feels her headache diminish slightly at the way he smiles back, his eyes shining with none of the guarded energy they'd possessed before.</p><p>"Bill! I almost forgot you worked here," she jokes.</p><p>He cringes playfully and steps into her office. His voice is apologetic when he responds, "Sorry, Josie, I know I've been a bit absent lately. Wright's been an absolute menace, and Fleur – " He stops himself there, for some reason, and coughs, "Well, she's been making dinner reservations left and right. I think she's trying to get me out of your office, to be honest."</p><p>He laughs easily at this as if he finds it amusing. Josie, though, has to force out a laugh because she doesn't find it nearly as amusing as <em>he</em> seems to, and mutters, "Imagine that," then falls silent.</p><p>The atmosphere grows a touch more awkward after that. Bill shuffles his feet a bit and Josie bustles over to water Marcia, who has been looking much healthier in recent days since she's been soaking up all the sunshine that enters Josie's office.</p><p>"I, uh, have some other business to attend to tonight as well, unfortunately," Bill says as he watches her. "I just wanted to check in with you before I left for the day."</p><p>Josie glances over at him. "That's sweet of you, Bill, but I'm fine."</p><p>He doesn't look convinced. Stepping closer, he murmurs, "I know that's a lie. You've got a headache, don't you?"</p><p>She turns around to tell him to stop worrying, but clearly isn't expecting him to be so close. While her back was turned, he had gravitated towards her. Now only a few feet away, Bill is studying her closely, and before she can respond one way or the other, he's reaching up to brush his fingers over her forehead and sighing, "I wish there was something more I could do."</p><p>Her breath catches just so as he smooths his thumbs over her temples. His touch gently diminishes the headache that she's been struggling with all day, though it's brief; his hands fall away after only a few seconds, and Josie swallows tightly at the tender look in his eyes. Strange – yes. She's never felt so awkward around him, really. Bill has always been incredibly easy to read, but suddenly she finds that there are secrets behind his eyes, shucked beneath the gentle press of blue.</p><p>Perhaps if those secrets existed in someone else's gaze, they wouldn't be so difficult to uncover, but Bill is after all with Fleur, and he wouldn't be with Fleur unless he loved her. Josie has only ever been in love with one person. She doesn't understand how it is possible to love more than one, and so the mystery continues to elude her even as she stares straight at it.</p><p>"Fleur thinks we're having an affair," Bill tells her abruptly, and all thoughts of trying to work out the missing link vanishes from her mind.</p><p>Josie's first reaction is to stare at him in baffled, embarrassed shock.</p><p>Bill steps back and runs his hand through his hair with a grimaced, "Yeah, I reckon that was the expression I gave her, too, when she mentioned it."</p><p>Josie's mouth drops open as she splutters, "An affair? You and me? In my <em>office?"</em></p><p>Merlin, if <em>only</em> that was true.</p><p>Wait, no – bad Josie – she won't have an affair with an engaged man – no –</p><p>Bill clears his throat and repeats, "You and me, in your office. Crazy, isn't it?" He lifts his eyes to look at her, cataloguing her reaction.</p><p>She forces herself to laugh again, but it's a bit harder.</p><p>"Yeah…crazy," she breathes out. She suddenly <em>very much</em> wants to be alone. "You set her straight, though," she prompts.</p><p>"Yeah, of course…I was actually a bit offended that she thought it at all, actually," he says.</p><p>Pain lurches through her chest. Merlin, <em>of course</em> he was offended. He was probably <em>disgusted</em> at the mere notion of having an affair with his best friend.</p><p>"Good," she mumbles, twisting her fingers together. "I wouldn't want her to get the wrong idea…"</p><p>Bill sounds just as awkward as she does when he mumbles back, "Yeah. I just…thought you should know…in case she says something to you…" Josie pales, and Bill hurries to add, "Not that she will! I spoke to her already and told her she's jumping to conclusions. I mean, it's ridiculous, right?"</p><p>Josie swallows tightly and breathes, "Right. Ridiculous. Anyone can see how crazy you are about her."</p><p>Bill pauses at this and stuffs his hands into his pockets as he mumbles back, "Yeah. Right. Well I should probably, uh, get going. I've got a lot to do tonight."</p><p>She sends him one last strained smile that he awkwardly returns, and they laugh a bit as they part ways, both pretending that they find the situation somehow entertaining. Neither of them do, though. The moment Bill shuts the door, his strained laugh gets traded for a frown and his mind churns with thoughts of her reaction to his admission. She had seemed quite taken aback. Perhaps she really does think it's ridiculous. As for Josie, she nearly collapses against the windowsill in horror and starts slapping at her face, looking quite insane as she tries to keep her tears at bay.</p><p>"Merlin," she bemoans, and decides to camp out in her office for another few minutes, until she's sure that Bill has left. She only heads home after she's cautiously peered into the hallway towards where Fleur's desk is located, and only steps out when she sees that the French woman is also gone.</p><p>What a day. All she wants to do is go to sleep, but bad luck works in aggravatingly mysterious ways.</p><p>She ends up walking to the Leaky Cauldron instead of apparating, trying to get her thoughts in order after Bill's confession. There are a few others on the street, so she doesn't feel so bad about taking the long way home. Besides, she's got her wand in her pocket just in case, and it's just as well that she does, because when she reaches the Leaky Cauldron a few minutes later and sees a hooded figure standing in the shadows across the street, Josie immediately pulls it out.</p><p>She comes to a stop and, thinking quickly, sends a beam of light at it, but –</p><p>Merlin, is she really going crazy? When the orb of light shoots forward, there is nothing there. No figure, no person, no shadows either.</p><p>With a confused frown, Josie hurries into the pub and marches over to Tom, rubbing her forehead and wondering if she's seeing things, now. Perhaps seeing apparitions is some wayward result of the curse. Maybe she's been imagining it, all those times where she thought she saw that figure. Maybe it's all in her head. Catalina did say, after all, that the <em>maldición del oro </em>drives its victims to madness.</p><p>"Tom, have you seen any…strange activity lately? Around the pub?" she asks when she steps up to the counter.</p><p>Tom sends her a weird look and responds, "The only thing that's strange round these parts is <em>you,</em> Devonport. You want a drink? You look like you need one."</p><p>Josie only rubs her forehead and mumbles, "No…no…" as she turns towards the stairs and begins walking up to the fourth floor.</p><p>Tom eyes her as she disappears and, with a shrug, mutters, "Curse-breakers. Mental, the lot of 'em."</p>
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<a name="section0016"><h2>16. Never get cursed by singing slippers</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks for all the reviews! The next chapter will be posted on Friday, since I'll be resuming twice-weekly updates. See you all then!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
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  <strong>Chapter Sixteen | Never get cursed by singing slippers</strong>
</p><p>Josie arrives to work early the next day. This is mainly due to the fact that she'd hardly gotten any sleep and figured she might as well head into the office. She's at Gringotts by quarter to eight, long before any of her coworkers come in. When people do start arriving, Josie gets up to bring some files over to Artie, who is acting a bit strange today. He sends Josie a confused glance when he first sees her, and is standing idly by his desk as if he isn't sure what he ought to do first. There's an altogether hesitant look on his face, as if he feels somewhat disconnected.</p><p>"You okay, Artie?" Josie asks as she puts the files on his desk.</p><p>Artie clears his throat and responds, "Er – yes, fine. Just…lost in thought…"</p><p>Josie raises an eyebrow at him, but seeing as Artie is widely considered a rather eccentric man by everyone at Gringotts, she just shrugs it off and carries on, heading over to the break room to make some coffee. Fleur doesn't seem to be in today. Her desk is empty, her perfect blonde head nowhere in sight. Josie doesn't necessarily find this strange until much later, when she decides to take her lunch break early and makes her way down to the lobby of Gringotts. If she hadn't been so hungry due to her early morning, she never would have stumbled into Janice on the lift, and she never would have informed her of the break-in at the Ministry. Admittedly, Josie is a bit amazed at herself for not hearing of the news sooner. She hadn't realized she kept to herself so much until she had sent Janice a dumb look and spluttered, "Wait, what?"</p><p>Janice's eyes had turned as round as saucers.</p><p>"You mean you haven't <em>heard?"</em> she'd incredulously asked, making Josie feel even more ridiculous. "It's all over the Daily Prophet! You-Know-Who is <em>back!"</em></p><p>Josie had been one of the few people who believed Harry Potter. Though she'd never met the boy herself, he's good friends with Bill's younger brother, Ron, and Bill himself has attested that Harry wouldn't make such claims just for attention. That's how the Ministry has been angling his 'far-fetched' views; they've been saying that it's just a grab for the spotlight, and that Dumbledore is a crazy old wizard who has been egging Harry on.</p><p>Anyway though, the fact that the Ministry has suddenly changed their tune is rather shocking, and so instead of going to lunch, Josie turns around to find Bill and see what his thoughts on the matter are. Surely, he knows more than she does, especially since she's apparently been living under a rock.</p><p>When she gets to Bill's office though, it's empty. It looks like he hasn't even come in today. His briefcase is nowhere to be found, and his chair, where he usually throws his jacket, is empty. She finds it quite strange that both him and Fleur are absent. Perhaps they had both decided to take the day off? Just to be sure, though, and because she's got a strange feeling brewing in her gut, Josie braces herself and heads over to Robert Wright's office.</p><p>The head of the Egyptian division is clearly not expecting to see her. When she knocks, he lifts his head from his work and raises an eyebrow. He doesn't look annoyed with her presence, though, which is a good sign.</p><p>"Can I help you, Devonport?" he wonders, his voice characteristically sharp.</p><p>She pauses for half a moment before saying, "I just – I had a few things to hand off to Bill, but he isn't in his office. I was wondering where he was."</p><p>Robert Wright stares at her as if he can't understand why she would even need to ask.</p><p>"I thought you were old school friends," he drawls, and goes back to reading whatever it is he's looking at.</p><p>Josie, confused by this statement, responds, "…Yeah, we are," and then trails off because Wright sends her another strange stare.</p><p>"He's at St. Mungo's," he finally tells her. "Got admitted early this morning. I'm surprised you didn't know."</p><p>Josie's mouth parts. She's surprised too.</p><p>Robert Wright raises an eyebrow at her and barks, "Well? Did you need anything else? I'm busy."</p><p>She jumps and quickly responds, "No – thank you – " and begins to take her leave, mind spinning, when he suddenly calls her back with a sharp, "Also, Devonport…"</p><p>She pauses, and he says, "Good job on those cases you helped out with. Your research was spot on."</p><p>Even more amazed now, Josie stares at him until he sends her an expectant look and she splutters, "Thank you, sir. I'll just be going then. Thanks." Then, closing the door, Josie puts a hand on her head and blinks back the confusion that's settling upon her.</p><p>Bill is in the hospital? Why? Wright said he was admitted in the early hours of the morning. Also, You-Know-Who is back? She turns on her heel and rushes back to the lift, all thoughts of lunch drifting away.</p><p>"Artie," she hurriedly says when she returns to the South American division and slams open his office door. He jumps at her abrupt entrance and swivels around in his chair as she hastily tells him, "Bill's at St. Mungo's. I've got to take the rest of the afternoon off – "</p><p>Artie evidently hadn't heard of Bill's absence, which is understandable since he isn't one of Bill's direct supervisors, and holds up a hand to stop her. He looks much better than he had this morning. The dazed look has disappeared from his face for the most part, though his eyes are currently flickering with confusion as he processes Josie's rushed words.</p><p>"Hold on a minute, Devons. Weasley is in the hospital? Is he alright?"</p><p>She runs a hand through her hair, worrying it. "I don't know."</p><p>Artie frowns. "Have you forgotten about the meeting this afternoon? We can't reschedule it, Josie, we've got some curse-breakers from Brazil sitting in on it and they're leaving in the morning – "</p><p>"I'll be back by then," she tells him. "It's at three, right? That gives me a few hours. I just want to check on him and make sure he's alright, then I'll come back to the office. Artie, please."</p><p>Artie waves her off with a simple, "As long as you're back before three o'clock. If it wasn't for the meeting, I'd let you take the rest of the day off, you know, but as it is…"</p><p>Josie nods quickly and, grateful, tells him, "Thanks, Artie. I understand. We've been preparing for that meeting for the whole week now."</p><p>Of course, Bill would have to decide to land himself in the hospital on the one day that she can't take off. She rushes back to her office to get her wand and her purse before heading outside. St. Mungo's no doubt has floo networks set up for their employees, but the usual way for visitors to enter the hospital is through the muggle entrance in London. Unfortunately, this means traveling on the underground. Josie would apparate closer to the hospital if she knew the area better, but she figures it isn't a good idea to risk the Statute of Security by apparating into the middle of a busy street, so the underground it is.</p><p>As a muggleborn witch, Josie is very familiar with how the underground works, but it's still a strange experience to enter the muggle world after so long being away from it. Living and working in Diagon Alley means that she is at the center of wizarding London every single day, and her busy schedule makes it difficult for her to venture out of it for long periods of time. As such, it's quite odd to sit amidst so many muggles despite her connection to their world, especially for so long.</p><p>It takes a while to reach the stop that's the closest to St. Mungo's, but after weaving her way around muggles and arriving at the outdated window display of Purge and Dowse Ltd, her trip becomes much easier. Some moments later, she steps into the welcome center and marches to the front desk.</p><p>A middle aged witch is manning it. She looks at as Josie approaches, glances down at her muggle band t-shirt and leather jacket, and hesitantly prompts, "Yes?"</p><p>Josie leans against the counter and says, "I'm looking for Bill – er, William Weasley. He was admitted this morning. Could you tell me if he's accepting visitors?"</p><p>She probably should have asked Wright that question, though he probably wouldn't have known either way. Her whole trip might've been for nothing if the doctors have closed off his room. As the medi-witch begins looking through their files, Josie worries at her bottom lip and wonders what it would mean if they did refuse visitors. Would that mean that he's in a very bad state?</p><p>Or Merlin, what if this whole thing is the complete opposite, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with him? Maybe he'd just woken up this morning with a cold and thought he'd amble into St. Mungo's for some Pepper-up. That's probably ludicrous though, right? Maybe he broke his toe or something and needed one of the doctors to repair the bone. That could be slightly <em>less</em> ludicrous. Does Bill sleepwalk?</p><p>"Yes, here we are," the witch says, and Josie turns her full attention to her. "William Weasley, admitted at 4:06 this morning. He has been cleared for visitors. You'll find him on the fourth floor, ward 556." Then, when Josie turns to hurry towards the lift, the witch exclaims, "Wait! I need you to <em>sign in."</em> She sounds quite impatient at having to explain this to Josie and jerks a binder at her with a baleful look.</p><p>"Oh, right," Josie mutters, turning back to grab the quill the witch hands her. Really, the woman isn't very polite. For a woman in charge of welcoming patients, she could do to smile a bit – and maybe stop staring judgmentally at her Led Zeppelin shirt. Led Zeppelin was a great band, you know. A bit of rock music might loosen her up some.</p><p>Josie mumbles a quick thanks before turning back to the lifts, which are across the way. The ground floor is just as busy as it always seems to be. Josie nearly runs into a few Healers dressed in their customary lime green robes and nearly gets waylaid by an old woman whose hat seems to be permanently charmed to her head. The large plumes keep getting in her eyes, and the woman almost cuffs Josie around the head when she tries batting them away.</p><p>"Oh, sorry dear," the woman says. "Frightful thing, this. Grandchildren are quite overrated, if you ask me."</p><p>Josie can't help but laugh at this. She pauses to pluck one of the feathers out of the woman's eyes and says, "Let me guess: they're little pranksters?"</p><p>The old woman's only response is to grumble, "Yes, well, do you happen to have a pair of scissors by chance?"</p><p>Before Josie can offer to slice off the feathers with a quick spell, one of the Healers bustles over to take the old woman's shoulders and says, "This way, Mrs. Tuttle."</p><p>As Mrs. Tuttle is led off to get her feathered hat removed, Josie finally makes it to the lift. It isn't any quieter inside, though. Just as the doors are swinging shut, a mother with two rambunctious children shuffle onto it. One of them is holding a box of pepper imps. He keeps trying to open it, and every time he makes a new attempt, his mum swats at his hand and loudly says, "They're for your <em>brother,"</em> again and again.</p><p>Josie can't get off the lift fast enough. Once the doors open to the fourth floor, she shoulders her way past the children (the mum thinks it's quite rude of her) and gets her bearings of the place. She sees room 502 nearby, and walks down the hall as the numbers progress into the 510s. It's a bit quieter up here compared to the ground floor, though not completely. A group of Healers in lime green robes rush past her talking in quick undertones, and when she rounds the corner and sees the large red-headed family waiting out in the hall, loudly chattering amongst themselves, their voices take up the whole of the corridor. Well, until they happen to see Josie hesitantly walking towards them, of course.</p><p>Considering the fact that Josie hasn't seen any of the Weasleys besides Bill for nearly an entire year now, she shouldn't be that surprised at the less than warm welcome she receives. Well, that's not entirely true. The frostiest greeting comes from Ginny, who eyes Josie with a careful expression. The rest of them fall silent for only a few seconds before Fred and George leap up to exclaim, "Josie!" at the same time.</p><p>"We thought you'd dropped dead on us," Fred says – or, at least she thinks it's Fred.</p><p>George (maybe) grins, "But it's just <em>Bill</em> whose dropped dead."</p><p>Josie casts a worried glance at the room 556, whose door is closed.</p><p>Off to the side, Ron mutters, "Don't joke about things like that, Fred. He isn't dead."</p><p>The twins shoot Ron looks, evidently annoyed at him for interrupting what was sure to be a good prank, and Josie deflates in relief. Then she marches towards them and claps them both upside the head. Ron snickers a bit at their expense.</p><p>"I can't believe you'd make me think Bill died," she tells them, then pauses and mutters, "Well, I guess I <em>can</em> believe it, actually."</p><p>Ron mumbles in agreement. Ginny retains her silence.</p><p>A slight touch of awkwardness envelopes the corridor for a long moment – until the door to room 556 opens and Mrs. Weasley pokes her head out, apparently wondering what the fuss is about. Her eyes land on the twins as she opens her mouth to berate them, until she sees Josie standing amongst her children and the words die on her tongue.</p><p>Molly straightens up. Her expression grows a touch fiercer. "Josephine," she greets stoically. "What are you doing here, dear?"</p><p>The question immediately makes Josie pause uncomfortably. Perhaps she shouldn't have come after all? She glances hurriedly at the Weasley siblings, who are blinking back at her, waiting for an answer.</p><p>"I…uh…" she trails off.</p><p>And then…</p><p>"Josie?" Bill's voice sounds from within the room. He calls, "Let her in, mum!"</p><p>Molly straightens up even more, glances behind her into the room, and then purses her mouth as she steps to the side. "Go on, then," she says, gesturing for Josie to enter.</p><p>The twins elbow each other, wearing matching smirks. Josie ignores them and turns to Molly, worrying her bottom lip again. In a lower voice, so that Bill can't overhear, she asks, "Is Fleur here? Because I wouldn't want to interrupt – "</p><p>"Merlin, no," Molly tsks. "She hasn't been here at all. Honestly, you'd think as his fiancée…but never mind that, go on in, Josephine." She doesn't sound very pleased. Josie isn't sure what to make of it, though. She's heard that Molly doesn't much like Fleur, but since Josie hasn't been around the Weasleys for some time now, she isn't sure if that's only a rumor. Still, the fact that Fleur hasn't been around to see Bill does make her furrow her brows in confusion. That doesn't sound quite right.</p><p>Mr. Weasley is sitting by the bed, which is occupied by Bill. He looks to be in fairly good condition, though there are a few bandages wrapped around his chest. He's sitting up, though, and when he sees her, he grins.</p><p>"I wondered if you'd come running here to see if I was still alive," he jokes, leaning back against the pillows. One look at her frazzled, unkempt hair and worried expression has him chuckling, "You <em>did run,</em> didn't you?"</p><p>Josie snaps, "Oh shut it, William. Er – hi, Mr. Weasley," she adds, sending the older man an embarrassed smile.</p><p>Arthur smiles back and stands up. "Nice to see you again, Josie," he says kindly as he steps around her. "We'll give you a few minutes."</p><p>Josie is about to tell him this it isn't necessary, she can't stay very long anyhow, but he's already stepping out into the hallway and closing the door behind him. She groans and walks over to the chair he had just vacated, collapsing into it with a mumbled, "Now they're gonna think I wanted to be <em>alone</em> with you."</p><p>Bill bites back a laugh and responds, "You should be used to this by now."</p><p>She grumbles to herself, but he does have a point. His family have always been under the impression that Bill was in love with her all this time, which had at one point been rather amusing for her. Of course, that was before he'd gone off to Egypt and they grew apart. None of them had expected that he'd come back to England and end up engaged to another woman, so really, that whole assumption had only ended up causing more pain than anything else.</p><p>Josie sits up in her chair and shuffles it closer to the bed, eyeing the bandages on his chest. He is otherwise unharmed, and seems to be in a rather good mood, to be honest. It's a bit baffling.</p><p>"What happened?" she asks. "I got to the office and Wright tells me you've landed yourself in the hospital."</p><p>She's still eyeing the bandages, so she doesn't see the tender look in his eyes when he says, "Yeah, remember that Scottish bloke I got into a pub fight with up in Edinburgh?"</p><p>Josie snaps her eyes up to his and frowns, "Yes?"</p><p>Bill hums, "Turns out the Scots <em>do</em> venture into England sometimes, especially when they're looking to beat one of us up. Fancy that."</p><p>Josie stares at him for all of three seconds before glowering, "William."</p><p>He smiles at her. "Josephine."</p><p>She glowers deeper. "Are you really not going to tell me what happened? I'm <em>worried."</em></p><p>His blue eyes crease with a bit more solemnity. "It's a bit of a long story, really," he hedges, wondering how much he's allowed to tell her about the Order. He supposes she must have heard about what happened last night, since it's all over the papers. Voldemort's return will probably be in the headlines for a while. When he sees the way she's looking at him, he sighs, "You'll be upset that I kept it from you."</p><p>These cryptic words make her even more bewildered. She stares at Bill, who sighs again and reaches for her hand. With a raised brow, Josie allows him to tangle their fingers together as he asks, "You've heard what happened last night, I assume?"</p><p>Josie hums, "Janice told me that You-Know-Who was seen in the Ministry last night. Fudge nearly walked right into him."</p><p>Bill nods. "And have you heard about the Order of the Phoenix?"</p><p>At this, she frowns in confusion.</p><p>He purses his mouth, glancing up at the door to his hospital room as if he's wondering if he should keep talking or not.</p><p>"Bill, what is going on?" she prompts, trying not to sound impatient. It's just that she'd <em>thought</em> he was in a bad state, and yet here he is, right as rain (well, mostly), and spewing nonsense about phoenixes. She eyes him and asks, "Are you loopy or something? What potions did they give you?"</p><p>Bill pauses at this and turns back to stare at her, until of course he starts chuckling. Around his laughter, he says, "I'm not loopy, Jos. I'm trying to tell you something <em>important,</em> so hush up."</p><p>She sends him a dubious look. "Bill, You-Know-Who just revealed himself to the Minister of Magic and all you can talk about is magical birds."</p><p>He chuckles again and pats her hand as if he thinks she's charming. "The Order of the Phoenix is an organization that fights against You-Know-Who and his followers. We were involved in the Ministry attack last night and I ended up getting this." He gestures at the bandages on his chest and waits to hear her response.</p><p>Predictably, Josie doesn't have much of one at first. She just stares at Bill as if she doesn't understand what he has just told her. Bill gives her a few moments for it to sink in, knowing that when it does, she'll most likely –</p><p>"Ow!" he hisses, rubbing the shoulder where she slaps him. It wouldn't have hurt much had there not been a cut slashing across his upper bicep. Josie seems to have forgotten about that. She pauses to send him a slightly apologetic look before carrying on.</p><p>"I can't – believe – you joined a secret – organization – without telling – me!" she hisses right back once her apologetic expression fades back into annoyance. Every word is enunciated with another slap – admittedly, slightly gentler this time, though neither of them remark on it.</p><p>Bill, trying to wrangle her flailing hands into his so as to cease her attacks, responds, "I didn't want you joining. It's too dangerous."</p><p>Josie narrows her eyes at him. Bill pauses, sighs, and leans his head back as she incredulously repeats, "Too dangerous? I never thought I'd live to hear the day when Bill Weasley said that something is <em>'too dangerous'!"</em></p><p>Bill wrestles her hands into his lap and holds them between his own as he calmly rectifies, "Too dangerous for <em>you."</em></p><p>When her eyes grow several shades darker, he squeezes her hands and explains, "You're a muggleborn Josie. You do <em>not</em> want to be on the Death Eaters' radar. And besides, if anything happened to you, I'd – "</p><p>Unfortunately, Josie doesn't get to hear the last part of his sentence, because that's when the door opens and Molly bustles back inside. Bill cuts himself off before he can say another word and squeezes her hands once more before setting them onto the mattress beside his leg. His mum eyes them, her eyes still a touch frostier than Josie is accustomed to. Feeling a bit uncomfortable beneath them, Josie clears her throat and makes to stand up.</p><p>"Bill needs rest," Molly announces.</p><p>Bill sends his mum a look and says, "I'm perfectly <em>fine,</em> mum. I was telling Josie about – "</p><p>"It's alright, Bill, I'll come back later," Josie cuts in quietly. "I've got to get back to the office anyway. Can I…can I come see you after work, or would you rather…?"</p><p>Would he rather be with Fleur and the rest of his family, is the question she can't quite bring herself to voice. Bill, though, sends her a quiet, warm look and says, "After work is fine. I'm sure by then, you'll have compiled a list of questions to interrogate me with."</p><p>Josie laughs at this, but as she straightens out, she says, "I probably <em>will, </em>so you'd best be prepared." She narrows her eyes at him warningly, and Bill smiles. That strange emotion is tempering his eyes again, quiet and warm.</p><p>When Josie turns, Molly is watching their interaction with a slightly less frigid expression on her face. It looks oddly hopeful, though it is still covered by a generous helping of frost. Molly smiles at Josie as she takes her leave, though the smile doesn't quite reach her eyes. Josie supposes she deserves it, after spending the last year ignoring her letters and invitations, but she's hoping that Molly will warm up to her soon. There is nothing more frightful than an angry Mrs. Weasley, in her opinion. She's seen Molly's anger firsthand on many occasions throughout the years.</p><p>After a quick goodbye to the other Weasleys, who look as if they are getting ready to leave as well, Josie makes her way back down the corridor to the lift. Her mind is spinning with thoughts of this Order Bill had been talking about. Coupled with the news that Voldemort is officially back, it's hardly any wonder that she isn't paying much attention to where she's walking. She ends up knocking into a wizard walking in the opposite direction, who had just gotten off the lift up ahead.</p><p>"Oh, I'm sorry – " she begins, then sees the long silver beard and the twinkling blue eyes, and incredulously gapes, "Professor Dumbledore?"</p><p>Her old headmaster turns his head. Evidently, he was in his own thoughts as well, and just like her, seems not to have noticed her. Or, at least, if he had, he seems to be pretending to find her presence just as surprising as she finds his, and hums, "Ah, Miss Devonport. I should have expected to run into you. I myself am on my way to check on Mr. Weasley as well. How is he doing, might I ask?"</p><p>She flaps her mouth at him for a moment before settling on a simple, "Fine. Um. I hadn't realized you still kept in touch with Bill."</p><p>Dumbledore smiles and responds, "It is a funny story, that. You see, I just so happened to be in the waiting room downstairs when I overheard one of the Healers mention his presence here. I found myself in the midst of a decision that people are very rarely in: to continue with my original purpose of having my slippers attended to, or to take a detour to visit an old student."</p><p>Josie sends him a bewildered look.</p><p>Dumbledore smiles again and tugs his robes up a few inches, revealing a pair of fuzzy blue slippers with pointed tips. He studies them and sighs, "Every once in a while, they break out into song, you see. I normally wouldn't mind – I do quite like their rendition of Seven Old Ladies – but it seems that they have gotten rather stuck, and I fear that no amount of convincing will remove them. You can imagine, Miss Devonport, how this poses something of a problem."</p><p>Josie is still quite bewildered, naturally.</p><p>"Alas," Dumbledore sighs, "I have to be at the Ministry later today, and though the Minister is in a bit of a tizzy after the events of last night, I am sure he would take notice of them should they begin singing again."</p><p>Mention of last night draws Josie from her bewilderment – sort of – and she quickly asks, "Professor, did you…did you see <em>him,</em> then?"</p><p>Dumbledore tilts his head at her and calmly replies, "Now is not the time to speak of such things, I'm afraid. Much too public."</p><p>She purses her lips but nods.</p><p>"However," Dumbledore adds, "I hope you don't mind if I ask <em>you</em> a question, Josephine. You see, Bill has mentioned that you have been suffering from a particularly nasty curse, placed on you by means of Incan gold. In my experience, ancient curses are quite tedious things to remove. How long have you had it, might I ask?"</p><p>Bewildered once more, Josie lifts her eyes to his. "Uh, going on ten months, now. How did you – I mean, never mind that – do you know how to break it, professor?"</p><p>However Dumbledore found out about her curse, that doesn't matter. She assumes that he must be either in the Order of the Phoenix that Bill had mentioned, or on the outskirts of it somehow, because why else would he be in communication with Bill? She can think about all that later; if Dumbledore has information on how to break this curse once and for all, that is far more important.</p><p>Dumbledore, though, merely hums, "Cursed objects can have rather challenging effects on those who have touched them. Personally, I find the stories about cursed <em>gold</em> to be rather amusing."</p><p>He smiles at her. Josie splutters back, not expecting him to think of her curse as some sort of an amusing anecdote.</p><p>"It isn't <em>amusing,"</em> she frowns. "It's been absolute <em>hell</em>. Ever since I touched that gold, it's been one thing after the other and I've been going out of my mind trying to figure out what to do – "</p><p>"I do apologize," Dumbledore says, a bit more seriously. "I hadn't meant to cause offense. I am sure that it has been quite a struggle for you these past few months." He pauses, peers at her from over the top of his half-moon spectacles, and muses, "When I am conflicted about what action I ought to take, I often find it most useful to turn inward."</p><p>She is still frowning, but now her expression takes on a touch of confusion.</p><p>"You see," Dumbledore says, "I have found that breaking most curses is actually quite simple, if you have a great enough desire to fix that part of yourself that has been cursed to begin with."</p><p>Josie raises an eyebrow and says, "I don't understand."</p><p>Dumbledore lifts his head and responds, "My dear girl, I would have thought that, as a curse-breaker, you would be more sensitive to the notion that curses' targets are quite specific. What I am trying to tell you, Miss Devonport, is this: the <em>gold</em> is not cursed; <em>you</em> are."</p><p>She stares at him, still quite confused, but before she can demand what he is talking about, a very loud noise suddenly fills the corridor. Dumbledore pauses, tilts his head, and closes his eyes for a moment before chuckling, "Ah, they are a bit off-tune with this one."</p><p>He moves one foot forward, revealing one fuzzy blue slipper, which is currently belting out the lyrics of 'A Mother's Lament' so loudly that Josie's ears are starting to ring.</p><p>"I ought to go get these checked, really," Dumbledore says over the noise. As he begins walking down the corridor, he asks, "Do you think young Mr. Weasley will mind a bit of music? Perhaps it will cheer him up."</p><p>Josie doesn't respond, because the slippers are now loudly crooning, <em>'OH YOUR BABY HAS GONE DOWN THE PLUGHOLE!' </em>and it would be quite impossible to be heard over the noise.</p><p>'<em>OH YOUR BABY HAS GONE DOWN THE PLUG!'</em></p><p>She stares at Dumbledore's retreating figure with a look of utmost confusion, mind spinning even more than it had been minutes ago, and turns to continue towards the lift. As she presses the button for it, she vaguely hears:</p><p>'<em>THE POOR LITTLE THING WAS SO SKINNY AND THIN, HE SHOULDA BEEN WASHED IN A JUUUUUUGGGGGGGGG – IN A JUG~!'</em></p><p>She's sure she looks quite baffled as she gets onto the lift. Of course, she's also sure that she shouldn't be surprised by this.</p><hr/><p>In lieu of the meeting at three o'clock, Dumbledore's cryptic words drift completely from her mind. It's rather difficult to think on them when she's instead listening to Artie give an even more eccentric speech than usual regarding the appearance of Inferi at an Incan site.</p><p>("Er, yes, hello everyone. We are here to discuss – " he glances down at his paper as if he's already forgotten – "the Inferi located at Kon's temple, yes. Witnesses to this include Miss Devons here – er, that is to say, Miss Devon<em>port</em> – Mr. Weasley, and Mr. Vasquez, a Chilean – er no, apologies, <em>Peruvian</em> curse-breaker. The purpose of this meeting is of course to talk about the ramifications of this. Well, actually, a secondary expedition should also be arranged. Um, yes, I believe we are all in agreement that this is a strange event…Inferi in South American temples…very odd.")</p><p>Those sitting around the meeting table give him a sporadic round of clapping as he sits back down, looking as if they rather think that <em>he</em> is the oddity. Josie casts him a confused glance, if he's merely nervous about the news of You-Know-Who's return (as many people most certainly are). As she begins to hand out the notes she had taken directly after the Inferi attack, she explains in more detail what the three of them had experienced with the shamans. The two Brazilian curse-breakers that are sitting in on the meeting listen very closely to the account. Artie had already informed the Peruvian Council of the presence of Inferi in the temple, but these two curse-breakers will pass along the information in more detail. While they are not Peruvian themselves, they both have quite an extensive background in breaking through Incan curses, as well as with breaking curses in the many hidden temples and sites tucked within the Amazon rainforest in Brazil.</p><p>The muggles don't believe that the Amazon rainforest was home to ancient civilizations at all, but they're wrong. There were once sprawling cities located deep in the Brazilian rainforest, with step pyramids and trade networks spanning all the way into Peru. A team of muggle archeologists did manage to find one, but Montegrande is not the first and last of its kind. Last time Josie had checked, the Brazilian Ministry of Magic has thus far located close to two dozen sites hidden within the landscape.</p><p>Anyway, because the meeting ends up taking about an hour and a half with all the questions the Brazilian curse-breakers ask, Josie doesn't get back to her office until half past four. With everything that's happened today and her concern over Bill taking precedence in her thoughts, Dumbledore's cryptic words become a secondary focus. She will think on them later, after she forces more information out of Bill regarding the Order. She still can't believe he'd kept it from her and still needs to give him a piece of her mind.</p><p>Not that she can blame him that much, she supposes as she gathers her things for the day. She <em>did</em> keep her curse from him, after all.</p><p>By the time Josie packs her things up and gets onto the lift, it's already a quarter to five. No matter, though; from the sound of it before, Bill will probably be staying overnight at the hospital. He did look a bit battered up. In wake of seeing the Weasleys again and learning about the Order of the Phoenix, she still hasn't asked how exactly he's injured, so that will have to be the first question she demands answers to.</p><p>When she returns to St. Mungo's, it's just as busy as it had been earlier that day. She signs herself in and inquires into Bill's room, just to make sure he hadn't been moved, then makes her way up to the fourth floor. This time, there are no Weasleys waiting in the corridor outside, and when Josie pokes her head into room 556, she finds it empty save for the man occupying its bed.</p><p>When Bill sees her, he breaks out into a relieved smile. "Josie, thank Merlin you're here. I'm so bored."</p><p>Josie laughs and steps inside, closing the door behind her before stepping to the chair beside the bed.</p><p>"My mum and dad were here a while ago, but they went to get dinner," he informs her as he sits up. He doesn't cringe as he does, so Josie expects that the majority of his wounds are healed up by now. He's still got bandages wrapped around his chest, but not as many as there were before. Upon closer inspection, she notices a few white scars across his pectoral, just below his collar, where a bandage had been earlier that day.</p><p>"It looks like the wounds are healing," she notes as she studies them. "I'm surprised you even have to stay the night at all."</p><p>Bill's response is a simple, "Well, since I was hit with all sorts of curses, it's probably safer to monitor them in case the magic reverses itself."</p><p>She doesn't notice, but as she studies his injuries, Bill is studying her. His gaze flits over her face, taking in the concerned expression and the worried eyes. The corner of his mouth edges up into a soft smile. Mention of curses, though, has her eyes lifting from his chest to his face, and she furrows her brow at him.</p><p>"I think it's time you explain everything, William," she says. Her worry seems to have been exchanged for the sort of dangerous tone that the female race seems to have perfected, when they want something done <em>right now</em> or heaven forbid. It's quiet in a deadly sort of way, hushed over with a menacing silence.</p><p>Bill, of course, is quite immune to that tone (his mother uses it frequently, though it's usually directed at a pair of mischievous twins rather than him), and merely replies, "What do you want to know?"</p><p>Josie leans back in the chair, which is quite uncomfortable by the by, and says, "First, when did you join this secret organization?"</p><p>Bill nods and answers, "The moment I arrived in England and took that desk job."</p><p>Josie seems surprised to hear this. She furrows her brows and asks, "Did you come to England specifically to join this organization?"</p><p>Bill nods and answers, "That is correct."</p><p>Josie pauses, notices the slight sarcasm in his tone, and kicks the side of his bed with her boot. "Do you find this amusing?"</p><p>He pauses too, clears his throat, and murmurs, "Well, sort of. I mean, no. What's the next question? This is good practice for future interviews."</p><p>Josie kicks the side of his bed again (not that it really does anything, mind you) and threatens, "If you don't take this more seriously, I'm going to leave and I won't care how bored you are."</p><p>This quiets him down. He is insanely bored, after all. Bill clears his throat again and says, "Fine, fine. I applied for the desk job at Gringotts because I wanted to be closer to my family, but also because I wanted to do something to help the cause."</p><p>"And you decided not to tell me all this because…?" Josie wonders.</p><p>Here, he turns to catch her eye, and with a solemn tone, Bill responds, "I knew you would want to join if I did. And besides, you weren't exactly speaking to me back then, were you?" The casual manner in which he reminds her of this makes her cheeks flush slightly. Bill's solemn expression fades into a quiet smile. "Don't worry, Jos, that's in the past now. What else do you want to know?"</p><p>Josie shifts in the chair and sighs, "I am sorry for that, Bill." She nearly goes on to add that she feels quite bad for having distanced herself to begin with, but that isn't entirely true. The main reason for the distance hadn't been about the curse at all, really, but because she couldn't bear to see him with Fleur. Speaking of…</p><p>"Where is Fleur, anyway?" she wonders, glancing over at the door with a confused frown. "I would've thought she'd be keeping you company."</p><p>Molly had mentioned that the French woman hadn't been by this morning, but Josie would have thought that she'd stop in to see Bill at some point. Since Fleur is only a part-time employee at Gringotts, she wasn't in the office today. Josie had assumed that Fleur was with Bill all this time.</p><p>The question makes Bill pause. He looks rather uncomfortable when he murmurs, "She was here about an hour ago, but she had a few errands to run."</p><p>There's something strange in his tone, though, that makes it seem as if he'd rather not talk about it. Josie's confusion grows a little more encompassing, but when she sees the look on his face, she decides not to pursue the topic.</p><p>"Okay," she slowly says, sitting up a bit straighter. "Anyway, back to my questions."</p><p>Bill sits up too, looking faintly relieved at the subject change, and nods sagely, "Ask away."</p><p>This makes Josie smile for half a second before she remembers that she's supposed to be interrogating him, and she hurries to compose herself once more.</p><p>"I'm going to just assume that Dumbledore has something to do with this," Josie says. "I passed him in the hallway this morning as I was leaving."</p><p>Mention of Dumbledore has Bill chuckling, "Oh, so did you hear the singing slippers, then?"</p><p>Josie, forgetting about the interrogation again, laughs, "Merlin, yes. I was – stop trying to distract me, Bill. I'm trying to gather important information."</p><p>Bill coughs, "Right. Dumbledore is the one who set this whole thing up, back during the first war. He seemed to think that my position at Gringotts would be useful to the Order. During the last war, You-Know-Who was working to convince the goblins to ally with him, so I think he reckons that it'll be good for someone to keep an eye on them to see where their loyalties are."</p><p>She frowns at this and wonders, "Do you think You-Know-Who might try do the same this time?"</p><p>Bill, looking far more serious now, doesn't seem to know, but he responds, "He might, and if he succeeds, it'll make a mess of the whole economy."</p><p>The ensuing pandemonium would definitely be difficult to handle. Gringotts is owned and operated in full by goblins. The Ministry has taken over management of it several times during its history – the last time being during You-Know-Who's initial rise to power – but it is technically a goblin-run institution. Goblins aren't known for their loyalty towards wizarding kind and it could spell economic disaster if they did end up allying with You-Know-Who. If it did reach that point, the Ministry would already have its hands full dealing with everything else, let alone working on transferring management in order to keep the bank open to the public.</p><p>Josie worries at her bottom lip and murmurs, "Bill…what exactly happened last night at the Ministry?"</p><p>Bill studies her face and sighs. He had rather hoped she wouldn't ask, but can't claim to be surprised that she had. The attack on the Ministry and the return of the Dark Lord is all over the papers. News reporters are all over the story; it's the biggest news since, well, the last time Voldemort was in power.</p><p>When Dumbledore had gone to see him this morning under the guise of getting his cursed slippers off, Bill has asked him how much he ought to tell Josie. He had already mentioned the Order to her before making sure it was alright and had hoped Dumbledore wouldn't find this irresponsible of him. Josie is someone Bill trusts with everything he is, though. He knows she won't talk about something this important, and besides all that, Dumbledore himself had expressed an interest in Bill recruiting Josie into the Order some months before. Given Bill's desire to not get her involved, though, it hadn't come to fruition. Now that he's landed himself in St. Mungo's directly following the Death Eater attack, he reckons it wouldn't be right keeping Josie in the dark any longer. Dumbledore had given him full permission to explain it all to her, though Bill is still hoping that she won't express interest in actually joining. Knowing her, he expects that she will, but he'd prefer she didn't.</p><p>Regardless, Bill isn't about to lie to her about what had happened, especially when he'd already told her that the Order was involved.</p><p>He turns to look at her and murmurs in a quiet voice, "Harry caught wind that the Death Eaters got a hold of Sirius. Er – Sirius Black. I guess I should probably explain that, first."</p><p>Josie's mouth had dropped upon hearing Sirius Black's name. He'd forgotten that most of the country isn't aware of Sirius's innocence. After meeting the man several times now and hearing the truth of what had happened, Bill had rather forgotten that Josie still thinks Sirius Black is a mass-murderer.</p><p>He quickly goes over the main points of Sirius's story, not wanting to get into it in too much detail. Josie sits in rapt silence and listens to him explain what had actually happened on the night of James and Lily Potter's murder, how Sirius had made Peter Pettigrew secret-keeper instead, and how he had gone after Pettigrew upon realizing his supposed friend's betrayal. Sirius hadn't blown up that street full of muggles – <em>Pettigrew</em> had, and had turned into his animagus form after cutting off his finger, framing Sirius for the murder and making the entire country think Sirius had killed him, as well. In the course of several brief days, Sirius Black had thus gone from being a trusted member of the Order to Voldemort's right-hand man, and had gotten thrown into Azkaban without so much as a trial by a Ministry that was far too busy hunting down Voldemort's other followers to give his situation any further thought.</p><p>By the end of Bill's explanation, Josie's mouth is hanging open.</p><p>"So he's been innocent this whole time?" she repeats, sounding horrified. "He's spent twelve years in Azkaban for a crime he didn't even commit?"</p><p>Bill nods, and mutters, "He's Harry's godfather, so…once Harry found out the truth, the two of them have gotten pretty close. It's not surprising that Harry reacted the way he did when he heard the Death Eaters had Sirius…he's a bit of a reckless kid, you know?"</p><p>At this, Josie scoffs, "Like you <em>weren't,"</em> though since she's still reeling with shock, it comes out faint and weak. She rests her chin on her palm and muses, "So what happened, then? I mean, I read the Prophet article about it, but I reckon your side of the story is more accurate."</p><p>He hums, "Well, one of the Order members informed the rest of us that Harry thought Sirius had been taken to the Ministry and was being tortured by Death Eaters. We found out that he wasn't, of course, but – well, by then, Harry and his friends were already on their way to save him, and we knew it was a set-up."</p><p>Josie catches his eye and says, "And you just <em>had</em> to be a part of the action, I suppose?"</p><p>The question counteracts the solemnity of his explanation some, and Bill sends her a quiet grin. "Well, yeah. 'Course."</p><p>She rolls her eyes at him and demands, "And what exactly did you get hit with? Dark curses? Stunners? And how are you feeling, by the way?"</p><p>Bill snorts, "Oh <em>now</em> you ask how I'm feeling. I was wondering if you ever would."</p><p>Josie makes a face at him but can't quite stop the amusement from flashing across her face. "Just answer the question, William," she tells him.</p><p>He quirks an amused smile too and reaches for her hand. As his fingers thread through hers, he responds, "I'm fine. I got hit with a few curses, but they only grazed me. The rest were stunners and a couple of jinxs."</p><p>Josie squeezes his hand and hopefully asks, "So I guess that means you won't be taking the assignment in Egypt that Wright wanted you to go on?"</p><p>For a moment, Bill looks a bit confused. In wake of everything that's happened, he'd completely forgotten about that. "Oh, the assignment. Yeah, I'm definitely not fit for travel right now. Besides, after last night, there's no way I'm leaving the country." Then, noticing the satisfaction shining in her eyes upon hearing this, he smirks, "I suppose you're very happy that I'm staying put."</p><p>Josie promptly scoffs at this, but she can't stop smiling even as she says, "Please. That's ridiculous."</p><p>Bill grins at her and murmurs, "I didn't really want to leave anyway, to be honest…"</p><p>The way he looks at her makes it almost seem as if – but no, he's only saying that because he doesn't want to leave Fleur so close to their wedding. It has nothing to do with her. Josie tries to make her next smile as genuine as she can, but she can tell from the way his eyes crease with confusion that she isn't entirely successful.</p><p>She quickly changes the subject after that. "You'll probably be taking the next few days off work, though. I can bring your doctor's note in, if you'd like. Oh, by the way – Wright actually told me that I did a good job with the research for your cases. Can you believe it?"</p><p>Bill chuckles, but all he says in response is, "Well you did do a good job. Wright might be a control freak, but he knows good work when he sees it."</p><p>She shrugs at this and mutters, "I just hope he doesn't try to wrangle me into doing any more work for him. I've got my own cases."</p><p>When Bill asks if she's got anything new to work on, Josie explains the latest find in Mexico. By the time she's finished gushing about the discovery of Ahau-Kin's temple and the fact that she might be able to land a spot on the expedition, it's nearly eight o'clock and the nurses have already been in to treat Bill's wounds and rebandage his chest. Bill asks a lot of questions about the temple, mainly about whether she's really going to go off to South America again so soon. Josie doesn't think he realizes the significance of this discovery and explains why Ahau-Kin is so fascinating.</p><p>"He was the Mayan god of the underworld, Bill. Just imagine what sort of discoveries we might make! I'll bet there are a ton of curses in there that we've never seen before."</p><p>Bill still looks a bit put-off that she might end up leaving, though.</p><p>"You-Know-Who is back," he points out. "Are you sure it's a good idea to be traveling?"</p><p>Josie just huffs at him and says, "I don't even know if I'll be able to go at all. It depends on whether the Mexican Ministry is going to open up the expedition or not. The site is under their jurisdiction, after all."</p><p>That Bill looks a bit relieved to hear this doesn't escape her, but Josie figures he's probably just doing what he does best: worrying about her needlessly. She brushes it off and begins telling him about what Dumbledore had told her that morning, and for a while they muse about what their old Headmaster had meant when he'd said that the gold wasn't cursed after all.</p><p>"…Well, the Pharaoh's Curse is enacted when you disturb the tomb itself, not necessarily when you take something out of it," Bill says. "I'm still waiting to hear back from my colleagues about it."</p><p>He looks a bit frustrated with this, so Josie asks, "Wouldn't Wright know? He's supposed to be a legend, isn't he?"</p><p>Bill waves this off, though, with a mumbled, "Oh, he knows all about the Pharaoh's Curse…just not how to cure it. <em>That</em> particular secret is something the Egyptian curse-breakers keep to themselves. I was hoping one of them might be willing to part with the secret, but since I haven't heard back yet…"</p><p>Josie leans forward against the edge of the mattress, laying her head on her crossed arms and propping her chin up with a sigh. A moment later, Bill is weaving his fingers through her hair and saying, "I'll try to get more information out of Dumbledore the next time I see him."</p><p>Josie just mumbles, "I'm starting to wonder if we're <em>ever</em> going to break this curse, Bill. Every one of our leads have turned out to be useless."</p><p>Bill optimistically responds, "We'll break it, Josie. Don't lose hope now." He falls into a short silence, staring off into the distance. Then, abruptly, he murmurs, "Josie, I've been meaning to tell you something…only I haven't really known how to bring it up…Fleur and I haven't told anyone yet…"</p><p>Bill trails off, looking strangely nervous, which isn't an expression she sees often on him. Before Josie can find out what Fleur and Bill have apparently been keeping to themselves, though, the door opens and Molly bustles inside.</p><p>"Oh William, I'm sorry we're late, we had to go back to the Burrow for – Josie. You're here," she pauses, looking a touch surprised.</p><p>Bill pulls his hand away from Josie's hair and sits up straighter, looking rather uncomfortable again. He clears his throat and tries to smile, but it looks slightly strained. Josie studies his face for a moment before turning to greet Molly with a hesitant, "Er, hi Mrs. Weasley. Mr. Weasley."</p><p>Arthur is closing the door behind Molly. Unlike his wife, he doesn't look at all surprised that Josie is here, and just sends her a wink and a cheerful, "Josie."</p><p>Molly tuts, "Well, it's quite strange to see you twice in the same day, Josephine, after so long – "</p><p>"Mum," Bill cuts in firmly, looking a bit more like himself. "Josie has an explanation for that. <em>Don't</em> you, Josie?" He turns his eyes to her, and Josie flushes a bit, still feeling a bit ill. When she doesn't immediately respond, Bill rolls his eyes and says, "She was cursed in an Incan temple and didn't want any of us to worry, so she had this <em>great</em> idea to push us all away instead."</p><p>If Molly and Arthur weren't staring at her with bewildered eyes, Josie would have shoved him for his sarcasm. As it is, though, she's a little bit preoccupied by the way Molly's eyes immediately fill with tears. See, an angry Molly Weasley is surely a force to be reckoned with, but a worried one? All bets are most certainly off.</p><p>"Oh Josephine!" she cries, and the moment she's pulling Josie into one of her infamous hugs, which has the tendency to squeeze the life out of its victims. "Why didn't you just <em>say so?</em> And here I thought you just didn't want to be a <em>proper Weasley – "</em></p><p>"<em>Mum,"</em> Bill sighs, a tad bit embarrassed with that last part. Alas, Molly completely ignores her son.</p><p>"All this time, I thought you were distancing yourself because you didn't want to be around <em>William anymore!</em> It was so awful to think that you no longer <em>loved him – "</em></p><p>"<em>Molly,"</em> Josie hisses in embarrassment. Or, at least, she tries to. Molly is pressing her face into her shoulder and her voice comes out all muffled.</p><p>"But you were only <em>cursed!</em> Thank <em>Merlin!"</em> Molly finishes, and then promptly pulls away from Josie, takes her face in her hands, and as if she has only just realized what she'd said, repeats, <em>"Cursed?</em> But are you alright, dear?"</p><p>Behind Molly's shoulder, Arthur sends Josie's an exasperated look. She grimaces out a smile in response, finding it a bit difficult to breathe because Molly has gone back to squeezing the life out of her.</p><p>Bill sighs again and explains, "We're trying to break it. Josie will be <em>fine,</em> mum. Anyway, she knows about what happened last night. I've told her everything."</p><p>Bill seems to be the only one who hadn't wanted her to know, because as Arthur steps forward and collapses into the chair Molly had pulled her from, he says, "About time. Awful, what happened. Fudge is going mental about it. He's trying to pretend that he knew You-Know-Who was back all this time. Have you read the Prophet article about it, Josie?"</p><p>And, just like that, it's as if Josie hadn't spent the last year pushing them away at all.</p><p>"Of course she read it, Arthur," Molly huffs. "The whole country's read it. Bill, dear, how are you feeling?"</p><p>Bill sends Josie an exasperated look, and she hides a laugh behind her hand.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0017"><h2>17. Never let your Fears Dictate your Feelings</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks as always for the reviews.  This chapter has a lot in it, so I hope you all enjoy!  Some of you have already guessed or have been very close to guessing the true nature of Josie's curse, and you will soon find out exactly what it is...epiphanies incoming ;) </p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  <strong>Chapter Seventeen | Never let your Fears Dictate your Feelings</strong>
</p><p>The next few days seem to last forever. Bill has been moved to the Burrow to recuperate from his injuries and hasn't been to work. Molly has been kind enough to send Josie updates on his recovery, sometimes more than once a day. She seems quite adamant about bringing Josie back into the fold, which is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing, because Josie had forgotten just how wonderful the Weasleys are and how much she's missed them; a curse, because despite the fact that the wedding is only two months away, Molly seems to have become hopeful that Josie's presence in her son's life will change his mind about marrying Fleur. This, naturally, gives Josie mixed reactions. She's used to Molly's meddling by now, but she knows that when the wedding day eventually comes, it will be that much harder to accept.</p><p>As for Artie, he's acting just as strange as ever. Sometimes when she passes him in the halls, he's got a very dazed look on his face, as if he isn't entirely sure where he is or what he's doing. Whenever she tries to engage him in conversation or ask after the latest research she had completed on one of her cases, Artie seems to be so out of it that it often takes him several lengthy moments to recall what it is she's inquiring into. She figures he's still in shock that You-Know-Who has returned.</p><p>Fleur is another variable entirely. The French witch has returned to Gringotts with a gusto, appearing as though she is quite determined to throw herself into her work without distraction. She can often be seen bustling around the department, setting up meetings and filing paperwork as though her life depends upon it. Whenever she sees Josie, a strange expression unfurls across her face and makes Josie so uncomfortable that she never lingers any longer than is strictly necessary. It is an odd combination of warmth and cold and it confuses Josie so much that she usually makes herself scarce whenever Fleur is nearby.</p><p>Unfortunately, though, it isn't always possible. Fleur is, after all, one of the main secretaries in the curse-breaking department, and Josie has to go to her often to hand over paperwork and such things, so avoidance isn't always possible.</p><p>"This is for the latest case in Mexico," Josie says one morning a few days after Bill had been moved to the Burrow. "All the information is on the cover page. If you could file it under 'Recent Cases', that would be great. I'll probably be adding to the case over the next few weeks, so – "</p><p>"How is Bill?" Fleur interrupts as she takes the folder that Josie hands her. She peers up at her with clear blue eyes and busily flips it open to view the cover page, giving it a quick glance before reaching into her drawer to pull out one of the stamps within. As she presses it down onto the upper corner of the page, she says, "'E has been cooped up at home all this time, and I 'ave not been able to visit him."</p><p>Josie freezes, uncomfortable again. She shifts on her feet and glances around, hoping for some miraculous distraction. Perhaps Artie will come running around the corner in a moment, or Janice from floor two will come round to steal more of their tea – but when no miracle occurs, Josie is forced to awkwardly respond, "Um, I don't know, I haven't been to see him either. I mean, I went to check on him in the hospital, but…why haven't you gone to the Burrow?"</p><p><em>He's your fiancé,</em> she thinks with a silent scoff. Shouldn't Fleur be more concerned about Bill's injury? Shouldn't she be rushing to see him and making sure he's alright, instead of throwing herself into her work?</p><p>Fleur, though, merely pauses. She frowns just so, and tells her, "They hate me, Jozephine! Bill's sister says I am 'phlegm'. I looked it up, and it means <em>mucus!"</em></p><p>Josie's mouth drops, but it isn't necessarily because she's surprised at Ginny's creative nickname. Rather, her surprise stems entirely from the fact that Fleur is now bursting out into tears, and looks quite miserable.</p><p>"Uh…does it?" she wonders faintly.</p><p>Fleur is beautiful even when she cries, damn her. Instead of red, blotchy cheeks and ugly, fat tears, Fleur looks even more angelic than usual. She gingerly brushes her fingers over her cheeks and cries, "I do not know what to think."</p><p>Now Josie, for all the hatred she had thought she'd had where it concerns Fleur Delacour, actually finds herself feeling rather bad for her. After all, it surely can't be easy to be in her position.</p><p>"And then there is <em>you,</em> Jozephine!" Fleur adds with a quiet wail, and lifts her head to stare at her. Josie pauses, staring at her in confusion – until, of course, Fleur cries, "Don't you see? He <em>loves you!"</em></p><p>Josie's mouth drops open again, but this time she thinks Fleur is being quite ridiculous. With a quick shake of her head, she leans against her desk and says, "No, no Fleur, you've got it all wrong – I thought he told you what we've been doing after hours? Please believe me, he's only trying to help me break a curse, that's <em>all."</em></p><p>Merlin. Despite being a woman herself, Josie has no idea how to handle a crying Fleur. They say women are more emotionally evolved for these types of situations. Josie wouldn't claim to be. She flounders uncomfortably in front of Fleur's desk, half tempted to grab her folder and march off to file it herself, just as an excuse to get away.</p><p>Honestly, hasn't Bill set Fleur straight by now? He said that he had explained to Fleur that he wasn't having an affair with Josie. Does Fleur just not believe him? Merlin, <em>what should she say?</em></p><p>"Bill doesn't love me, he loves <em>you,"</em> Josie blurts out. "For goodness sake. I'm his best friend, Fleur, nothing more."</p><p>Fleur, though, just shakes her head and, holding back more tears, gasps, "I know you are in love with him, Jozephine. It is so obvious."</p><p>Immediately, Josie feels her face grow hot, burning with humiliation. She pushes herself off Fleur's desk and awkwardly forces out a laugh. "That's – that's ridiculous. That's really – "</p><p>"I thought, at first, that he was just rekindling his friendship with you, but I know that is not true, now," Fleur cries, wiping her cheeks. "I cannot marry a man who is in love with another!"</p><p>Face burning, Josie shakes her head and adamantly says, "Come off it, Fleur. You're prefect for him. You're everything he wants. <em>You're</em> the one he loves."</p><p>Her heart clenches tightly in her chest as she says this, but she knows it's true. She can't even believe she's having this conversation right now. Glancing around uncomfortably, Josie is at least grateful that no one else seems to have noticed Fleur's breakdown – or overheard any of her suspicions regarding the nature of Bill's heart. Merlin.</p><p>"Look, let me make you some tea. You'll feel better, then," Josie says, and hauls Fleur out of her chair to drag her into the break room, praying that it is empty. It nearly is. One of her coworkers is sitting at one of the small circular tables by the window, eating his lunch. Josie makes short work of him. ("Girl stuff, sorry, do you mind?") He looks very happy to leave and edges away from Fleur's crying form with a look of fear. To be honest, Josie feels the exact same thing and wishes she could escape as easily.</p><p>She sits Fleur down at the table that had just been vacated and bustles over to heat some tea. After a quick tap to the kettle, the water is boiling. It only takes another moment to dig around for a tin of tea and prepare the cup. She reaches for the first one she sees and is setting it in front of the crying witch a moment later.</p><p>Fleur isn't crying as hard as she'd been before, thankfully, though her cheeks are still damp and her eyes still suffused with tears. She takes a shaky sip and moans, "Bill told me about your curse, Jozephine," she says. In her current state, her accent is thicker than usual and Josie has to lean in to hear what she's saying. "'E 'as been 'elping you zo much! 'E is always canceling our dates, and – and – "</p><p>With that, Fleur bursts into tears again and Josie bites her lip to avoid the loud, impatient sigh that wants to break free. Is this hormones? Fleur is acting a bit crazy. It's not as she has no right to go visit Bill. She's his fiancé for goodness sake, and besides all that, this isn't really the best time for a breakdown, really. She has work to do. Still, Josie can't help but feel as though this is all her fault, and the responsibility that sits upon her shoulders is what ultimately has her pulling out the chair opposite Fleur and sitting down. If she hadn't told Bill about her curse, surely Fleur wouldn't be saying all of this.</p><p>"Fleur, come to your senses," Josie tells her, pushing the tea towards her again. "Bill and I have been best friends for years now. He's never had any romantic interest in me."</p><p>Fleur sniffles and clenches her fingers around the teacup with watery eyes. "I thought that, too, at first, but now I know the truth."</p><p>Josie very nearly rolls her eyes at this. It's not because she is annoyed at Fleur, but because the woman just can't seem to grasp what Josie is telling her.</p><p>"It's true that I…that I – but Bill doesn't see me that way and that's okay," Josie says, swallowing tightly around her silent confession. Fleur seems to understand what she doesn't say, and just peers up at Josie with saddened eyes. Josie grimaces out a smile and murmurs, "I want him to be happy and he's happy with you, Fleur."</p><p>Fleur reaches up to wipe her eyes, somehow managing to look as demure as ever even as she drags the back of her hand across her wet cheek. She sighs, voice still thick with tears. "'E cares so much for you, Jozephine…"</p><p>Josie, not really knowing what to say to that, responds, "Er, well we <em>are</em> friends. Now…are you finished crying?" She cringes, "I'm not really good at this, you know."</p><p>For the first time today, Fleur gives out a watery laugh. The smile that overcomes her face is nothing short from heavenly. She looks absolutely radiant, even with tears still clinging to her eyelashes. Fleur reaches over to pat Josie's arm and says, "I will be okay, eventually."</p><p>Though this seems quite a dramatic thing to say, considering the fact that Fleur could apparate to the Burrow any time she wants and fix this situation, Josephine smiles back at her. She feels quite strange. It isn't every day that you comfort the woman who is engaged to the man you love. She feels like a bonified saint, to be honest.</p><p>"I should get back to work," Josie tells her. She nods at the tea and says, "Make sure you finish that before going back to your desk. Merlin knows you need it."</p><p>Fleur hiccups out another laugh and nods, wiping at her eyes again. Josie takes one last look at her before stepping back into the hallway. The moment she does, it seems as though the entire office has finally realized that Fleur is crying and they are all naturally concerned for her. Everyone loves Fleur.</p><p>Josie rolls her eyes at them and snaps, "She's fine, but she won't be if she knows you're all loitering around looking for gossip." That dispels them. As everyone returns to their desks, she overhears a few of her coworkers whispering about whether Fleur is having second thoughts about the wedding, and Josie rolls her eyes again. She grabs the folder she had handed to Fleur minutes before and sets off to file it herself, thinking about how ridiculous everyone is. Still, as she gets on the lift and taps the file against her palm, she can't help but wonder the same thing.</p><p>Hope is such a powerful thing, and Josie feels awful for having it in the first place. She meant what she said to Fleur in the break room. Bill really does love her and Fleur is good for him. The last few weeks working on breaking her curse has given her a fresh perspective on the whole matter. She wants Bill to be happy. If he's happy with another woman, then what can she do about it? Perhaps her new perspective is a tiny bit defeated, but at least she isn't burning with jealousy at the moment. Of course, that could potentially just be because Bill isn't actually here right now. Perhaps if <em>he</em> had been the one to comfort Fleur, it would be a different story.</p><p>Josie sighs and files the case before returning to her office. Her good deed makes her feel annoyingly uplifted. She knows she had done the right thing, even though it had been difficult to say all those things to Fleur. Difficult or not, though, she does have more work to do today and tries to clear her mind in favor of going through some paperwork. The various manifestations of her curse seem to have ceased and dispersed for now, because she gets through the remainder of the day without incident.</p><p>By the time five o'clock rolls around, Josie sighs out in relief. The last few days have been stressful, to say the least. Bill's injury aside, her head has been spinning with all the information he had told her about the Order of the Phoenix. If that isn't enough to think about, the entire country has entered into a state of cold shock since the night of You-Know-Who's return. It's impossible to go anywhere without hearing people whispering about it. Some are fearfully wondering if anyone is safe, and whether they should take their kids out of school and such things. She even heard one of her coworkers say something about uprooting and moving out of the country entirely.</p><p>The last few days have seen more and more headlines regarding 'The Rise of He-You-Must-Not-Be-Named', each one more dire than the last. The Daily Prophet is writing article upon about what one should do if they happen to encounter one of his followers. Some journalist by the name of Rosalind has teamed up with Rita Skeeter and keeps spewing bullshit about finding a pureblood family to hide with.</p><p>Since that night at the Ministry, though, there has been no sign of You-Know-Who. He seems to have gone into hiding or something, lurking out of sight with his followers. It would be foolish to assume that he will hide forever, though. Sooner or later, he will step forward again, and Josie shivers to think what will happen when he does. As a muggleborn witch herself, Josie knows all too well how dangerous it is for her in particular.</p><p>Even with all this in mind, though, Josie decides not to apparate directly to the Leaky Cauldron on her way home that evening. Diagon Alley is still busy enough where she doesn't feel as if she's about to get attacked. She figures that it's important to keep a firm head on your shoulders in situations like these, and refuses to allow the fear to get to her. Her dad told her once that 'there's no point in worrying about what will happen, Josie – worrying takes energy and doesn't do a single thing'.</p><p>So instead of worrying, Josie merely draws her leather jacket tighter around her frame and starts walking down the street. Summer is nearly upon them now and there isn't much of a reason to be wearing a leather jacket now that the weather is warming up, but Josie has never let that stop her before.</p><p>It's nice to get some fresh air after being cooped up inside all day, and she does have a lot to think about. Josie's wisdom does occasionally fall short at times, but in her humble opinion, there's nothing quite like a long walk to get your thoughts figured out. By the time she's passing Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, she's starting to feel a bit better about everything. It seems that, after Bill had told her everything days before, she's been steamrolled with too much information to handle. You-Know-Who's return, the Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore's cryptic words – even the realization that Sirius Black is innocent – all contributes to the chaos unraveling in her mind. If that isn't enough, something else happens too, as she's passing the entrance to Knockturn Alley.</p><p>In wake of everything else that's happened, Josie has rather forgotten about the latest addition to her curse. When she happens to turn her head and sees the hooded figure lingering on the corner of Diagon Alley, though, it all comes rushing back to her. Today has been a rather good one, all things considered. She hasn't had any headaches or bad luck, no bloody noses or incidents to speak of. But when she sees the figure lurking there in the shadows, hardly ten meters from where she's walking, Josie remembers that being cursed isn't just about bad luck and illnesses.</p><p>
  <em>I have witnessed the slow decay that lays waste to their bodies and drives them to madness.</em>
</p><p>Madness, yes, that is what she's feeling now. She's been seeing this figure for weeks now. It has crept in upon her dreams some nights, waking her in a cold sweat. It has watched her from the shadows and whispered at her about hallucinations and insanity. Her curse has clearly progressed from bloody noses to illusions.</p><p>Frightened now, Josie walks faster, keeping her head turned to the side. The phantom in the shadows does not move to follow, but it hardly makes her feel any better. By the time she's stepping up to the door of the Leaky Cauldron, Josie is sweating and breathing hard from her bracingly fast pace, clutching her wand between tight fingers and constantly glancing behind her to see if her hallucination is still there. Her fear is undoubtedly the reason why she doesn't see the redhead waiting for her outside the pub, lingering at one of the small tables set up outside and nursing a half-empty butterbeer.</p><p>"Josie?" the redhead calls when she walks right past the table and hurriedly reaches for the door.</p><p>The sound of her name has Josie spinning around with a short gasp, still thoroughly shaken from the latest addition to her curse. When she sees Ginny sitting at the table, though, Josie breathes out a sigh of relief and chokes, "Ginny! What are you doing here?"</p><p>She glances behind her shoulder again, but the hooded figure seems to have disappeared.</p><p>Ginny raises an eyebrow and glances in the same direction, clearly wondering what's gotten Josie so riled up. "I've been sent to check up on you by my overprotective brother. He seems to think that you can't look after yourself," she responds with an eyeroll, and lifts her butterbeer to her lips. "I told him to do it himself since he's heading back to his flat tonight, but he wouldn't listen."</p><p>Josie hardly seems to hear her. She's still scanning the shadows nearby, so Ginny furrows her brow and asks, "Are you alright?"</p><p>With a start, Josie turns back to her and responds, "Yeah, of course. Uh – sorry, did you say Bill sent you here? He's doing okay, then?"</p><p>Ginny eyes her for several moments before rolling her eyes yet again and saying, "He's <em>fine</em>. Merlin. Between you and my mum, you'd think he got hit by an Unforgivable."</p><p>Josie pauses at this and clears her throat, feeling herself flush slightly. Suddenly thankful for the shadows, Josie steps towards the table in which Ginny is sitting and awkwardly laughs, "Right, of course he's fine. He's been through worse. You can tell him to stop worrying about me. Honestly, speaking of your mum, he's just as bad as she is with his fussing."</p><p>Ginny laughs. "Yeah, well, he's always been stupidly protective when it comes to you. Anyway," she says, brushing that last bit off even as it makes Josie flush deeper, "he isn't the only reason I came by. We're going out for dinner."</p><p>At this, Josie raises her eyebrows at peers at her. For a short fourteen year old girl, Ginny certainly doesn't act her age. Furthermore, it is rather strange that Ginny is here alone, what with everything going on.</p><p>"…Did you floo here by yourself?" she asks, furrowing her brow.</p><p>Surely, Molly wouldn't have let her come here alone. Ginny, though, just scoffs, "Of course not. Fred and George came with me. They wanted to check on the shop – did you hear? They've just opened it. They've been going back and forth between the Burrow to their new flat above the shop, getting it ready."</p><p>Josie had, indeed, heard. Molly had told her all about it in the hospital days prior, and she's made many mentions of it since, in the brief letters she's sent Josie regarding Bill's recovery.</p><p>'<em>William is doing wonderful, dear – he's been up and about all day. The twins tried to wrangle him into playing Quidditch but I put an end to that. His injuries may be healing, but he's in no state to get on a broomstick! Those boys will be the death of me. They won't listen to reason! I keep telling them to stop fooling around with this joke shop idea, but do they listen? No! They do seem to have a flair for business though…just the other day, they came home wearing dragon-hide suits, of all things!'</em></p><p>Josie's seen a few flyers for the Grand Opening, but she hasn't yet been to the see how the shop is doing. She's only just gotten back in with the Weasleys and has been somewhat preoccupied. Besides all that, Weasley's Wizard Wheezes is located on the other side of the alley and she hasn't had a reason to walk past it. Resolving to do so at some point soon, Josie says, "Well you really shouldn't be sitting around outside like this, Ginny, it's – "</p><p>"Dangerous, yes I know," Ginny shrugs, and stands up. "Anyway, stop smothering me and let's go to dinner. Bill gave me money to treat us."</p><p>At this, Josie raises her eyebrows. "So going out to dinner was Bill's idea too?"</p><p>Ginny rolls her eyes and impatiently responds, "Of course not. He's too much of a blockhead to have ideas. When I told him I was going to make you take me to dinner, he threw some money at me and told me to go somewhere nice."</p><p>Josie's eyebrows jolt even higher. This sounds remarkably like something Bill would do, to be fair, but still…</p><p>"I told him 'if you want to go on a date with Josie, don't do it through <em>me'</em>," Ginny huffs, looping her arm through Josie's and dragging her back down the street. "But Bill just told me to stuff it. Since he's funding our dinner, I didn't argue that much. Anyway, I was thinking of Hallberg's Café. I've never been there before. We always just eat at the Leaky Cauldron if we're here for dinner. It's less expensive."</p><p>Throughout Ginny's speech, Josie's face grows rather warm at the mention of a date. Thankfully, Ginny doesn't appear to notice because she's too busy hunting down the chosen restaurant.</p><p>The Hallberg's Café is definitely a bit more upscale. Josie has been here for a date or two or her own, in the past, but that was before she was living paycheck to paycheck and could afford to splurge on a night out.</p><p>"…Are you sure this is okay?" Josie asks as they step inside. The restaurant is really rather nice, with soft lighting and quiet music drifting through the space. Her eyes drift over to the table that Bill and Fleur had sat at, ages ago when he had first proposed to her and Josie had happened to see them through the windows, and she purses her mouth. She hasn't been here for quite a while, having had no reason to go out and no desire to spend what little money she has on a meal here. Perhaps this is the reason why it feels as if she is encroaching upon Bill and Fleur's space, as if this is their restaurant, and she doesn't really belong here. It's a ridiculous notion, she knows, but there is still a sliver of discomfort in the back of her mind as she glances at the table they had occupied.</p><p>Ginny, though, seems quite nonchalant about using her brother's money in such a way. Like any proper sister, she is willing to take full advantage of her older brother's generosity and hardly blinks an eye at it.</p><p>"Yeah, why not? Bill practically threw money at me when I walked past the couch. I nearly got my eye knocked out with a spare sickle. If he wasn't telling me to spend it, it would've clobbered him," Ginny casually informs her, and drags her over to the witch who is standing nearby, waiting to sit people.</p><p>"…Just the two of you tonight?" the woman asks as she looks up.</p><p>There's something about the tone of her voice, a touch of snobbishness perhaps, that makes Ginny lift her chin and declare in a very posh tone, "Yes, if you please."</p><p>Josie very nearly rolls her eyes at her. Clearly, the twins have been rubbing off.</p><p>The witch pauses to raise her eyebrows at Ginny, but doesn't say anything and merely leads them to an empty table. She props two menus in front of them and says, "Your waiter will be with you shortly," before striding back to her station as if she has quite a lot to do tonight. She doesn't, though. Besides them, the restaurant is nearly empty. While this could be due to the fact that it's midweek, Josie has a feeling that it's because all over the country, witches and wizards are descending into a pandemonium of fear at the thought that You-Know-Who is back. She doesn't mention any of that, though. From the looks of it, Ginny has quite a lot to say.</p><p>"I'm still not very happy with you, you know," she informs Josie as she reads the menu. Many of the items are rather expensive, like 'Braised Short Ribs with Orange Dressing' and 'Stuffed Salmon Fillets' and 'Mediterranean Steamed Mussels', each of which have prices that make Ginny's eyes bulge. At first, Josie thinks it's merely because of the upscale nature of the place, until Ginny smirks, "Oh Merlin, I'm going to have fun spending all of Bill's money…"</p><p>Josie coughs out a laugh. "Serves him right for throwing it at you," she shrugs.</p><p>Ginny nods happily, content that Josie is in agreement. "Too true. And they say the eldest brother is usually the smartest, you know? What lies."</p><p>Josie laughs again, but then remembers that Ginny is apparently not pleased with her and says, "I'm sorry I stopped responding to your letters, Gin. I…well, I thought it was for the best, at the time…"</p><p>She grimaces a bit when Ginny peers over at her with a frown. "What is this curse, anyhow? Bill said it's got to do with gold you took out of a temple in Peru."</p><p>Josie can't be too upset that Bill had come clean to his family about the curse. Upon seeing them at St. Mungo's, it was inevitable. Besides, it is rather nice, not keeping it from anyone. After their waiter arrives to take their order, she tells Ginny everything – well, almost everything. That is, she tells her everything a fourteen year old girl ought to know. The thing is, though, that Ginny happens to be someone who knows Josie fairly well, and is able to read between the lines.</p><p>Josie tells her about Sami Manqus temple, the inscription, her ultimate decision to distance herself from everyone, and all the events thereafter. She explains briefly about Ricardo and how he's helping her track down the remainder of the expedition members, and Bill's own efforts to break the curse. Ginny looks rather curious to hear that last bit, especially.</p><p>"Well it's no wonder you made yourself scarce," Ginny shrugs after Josie finishes a rather lengthy explanation about some of the things her and Bill have tried.</p><p>Josie nods, grateful that Ginny seems to understand, and responds, "Yeah, it's been really difficult, dealing with this curse – "</p><p>"Oh please, who cares about the curse?" Ginny interrupts just as their dinner is being brought to their table. As Ginny eagerly studies the fully intact lobster that is sitting before her, eyes and all, she finishes, "I mean, if I was in love with my best friend who was in love with someone else, I'd probably disappear too."</p><p>Josie, who had just taken a bite of her steak, now proceeds to choke on it. Ginny lifts her eyes to watch and pushes Josie's water glass towards her helpfully.</p><p>After Josie takes a large gulp of it, she splutters, "I'm not in love with Bill – "</p><p>Ginny rolls her eyes and cuts in, "Everyone knows you're in love with my brother except him, because he's a blockhead." She giggles at the way Josie's cheeks flush brightly and snorts, "Honestly, we've all been waiting for him to realize it, but he's more of an idiot than we gave him credit for. The twins even have a bet going on. Fred thinks Bill will go ahead with marrying Phlegm and only realize he's in love with you until after he ruins everything; George thinks Bill will get his head out of his arse before the wedding and throw himself at your feet to beg your forgiveness for his stupidity. Personally, I think Bill already knows he loves you, only he doesn't know what to do about it because he's s'posed to be marrying Phlegm in two months and he's not sure how to go about dumping her."</p><p>Josie gapes at her. Ginny pokes the lobster's antennae eyes with a curious expression.</p><p>"This is pretty creepy. It's like he's watching me," she muses casually, as if she hasn't just shocked the life out of Josie.</p><p>"…Ginny," Josie hoarsely croaks. "I really have no idea what – "</p><p>"Oh come off it," Ginny interrupts yet again, "There's no need to be all embarrassed about it. My mum's been planning your wedding since you were both at Hogwarts."</p><p>This is certainly shaping up to be an unexpected evening. Josie stares at Ginny as she processes this latest information, decides that she isn't necessarily surprised by this, and groans, "It doesn't matter though. Bill is going to marry Fleur and there's nothing you can do about it, Gin. Besides, she really isn't all that bad. She's a bit upset that you call her Phlegm, you know."</p><p>Instead of making Ginny feel chagrined, the girl only beams widely and eagerly wonders, "Really? Wonderful. She was confused when she first heard it because she didn't know what it meant, and Bill refused to tell her. It was absolutely hilarious."</p><p>Josie groans again. "Ginny, honestly, regardless of my feelings for your brother, Fleur <em>is</em> going to be your sister-in-law. You should be nicer to her."</p><p>Ginny looks a tad bit baffled at Josie's plea for kindness and raises an eyebrow. As she digs into her meal, she says, "You know, Josie, sometimes I wonder how you made it into Gryffindor. You're acting like a Hufflepuff right now and it isn't right. You should be dropping everything and running off to Bill to tell him how you feel before it's too late. This has nothing to do with Fleur; if you don't get a move on, you're going to be miserable for the rest of your life. Think of your future. Think of <em>my</em> future."</p><p>Josie's eyebrow twitches. "Your future?" she prompts.</p><p>Ginny nods hastily, "Yes, you're signing my future off to Phlegm and I'll never forgive you for it!"</p><p>Josie sighs at her. She mulishly stabs her fork into another bite of steak and mutters, "You're being ridiculous."</p><p>Ginny frowns and shakes her head. "You just don't understand my perspective because you don't have any brothers. It's important that they marry people I actually like, otherwise I'll never speak to them again because their wives will annoy the hell out of me and I'll be forced to pretend they don't exist. But if <em>you</em> marry Bill, I'll accept you as a sister because I already view you as one anyhow and it won't be a big deal, see?"</p><p>Josie sends her an unimpressed look. Not that she doesn't understand what Ginny is saying, but it's a bit dramatic, really.</p><p>"Can we stop talking about this?" she sighs hopefully.</p><p>Ginny frowns. "Fine, but only because there's a lot of other things to talk about. I overheard my mum and dad talking about how Bill told you about the Order," she murmurs in a quieter voice, and Josie breathes out in relief. "I reckon Bill should've told you ages ago. He's been in it for <em>months</em> now. The twins want to join too, but mum keeps saying they're too young even though they're of age. She still lets <em>them</em> hang around the Order members though. Double standards if you ask me. She always makes me go to bed whenever they start talking about the <em>good</em> stuff."</p><p>Having only just heard about the Order of the Phoenix's existence from Bill some days before, Josie hasn't had the time to ask what actually goes on during one of their meetings. Ginny, however, informs her that they all spent last summer at the Order's headquarters, and updates her on what had happened to her dad over Christmas break – something Josie had not known about, since she was thoroughly keeping her distance from Bill at that point. Ginny doesn't tell her much, of course, and Josie doesn't ask for sensitive information such as who the other members are and such, but she is quite curious to learn more – especially about one escaped mass-murderer who is actually not a mass-murderer at all.</p><p>"Oh yeah, Sirius is great," Ginny whispers to her when Josie asks. "Ron told me he was practically a skeleton when he first got out, but he's doing really well now. Well, sort of. I mean, he's going crazy, cooped up all the time, but I reckon he's a bit crazy anyhow from all the time he spent in Azkaban."</p><p>Josie wonders, "What's he like? Bill told me he's Harry's godfather."</p><p>Ginny shrugs, "He's really nice, actually. To Harry, anyway. Him and my mum fight a lot though. They don't really see eye to eye on a lot of things. But whenever Vivian is there, he doesn't argue because she gives him this evil look and it makes him shut right up. It's really funny."</p><p>Raising a confused eyebrow, Josie asks, "Vivian? Who's that?"</p><p>Ginny, realizing she'd just let sensitive information out, clamps her mouth shut and mutters, "Merlin, forget I said that. Mum would kill me if she knew I was telling you all this. You're not in the Order, after all."</p><p>Josie is still curious, but she doesn't want to get Ginny into trouble so she lets it go. They turn the subject down other avenues as they finish eating, talking about the previous school year that had just come to an end and how awful Dolores Umbridge is. Ginny tells her about Dumbledore's Army, the secret club Hermione, Ron, and Harry had formed to practice Defense Against the Dark Arts, and how Umbridge is probably the worst person alive, even worse than You-Know-Who. ("At least you know he's rotten to the core. Umbridge likes to pretend that she's a saint, which is the <em>worst.") </em>Josie tells Ginny about her own run-in with Umbridge several weeks before in the lobby of Gringotts and how she understands her perfectly.</p><p>After they finish eating, Ginny pays for their dinner with the shiny gold galleons Bill had supplied. When she had pulled them out of her pocket to hand to the waiter, the look on his face had been utterly priceless. He clearly wasn't expecting Ginny to be the one paying, because it had taken him a moment to realize that Josie was making no move to pull out her coin purse and had done a double-take when he'd turned his head and saw Ginny impatiently waiting for him to take the gold. They had a good laugh about it as they left.</p><p>"You should come over soon. Bill has the rest of the week off and I know he's dying to see you. Mum won't let him travel because she's afraid he'll reopen the wounds," Ginny slyly informs her on their walk back to the Leaky Cauldron, which is only just up the street. They arrive just as the sky opens up and a light, cold rain begins to fall to the earth.</p><p>Josie ignores the 'dying to see you' bit and just responds, "We'll see."</p><p>The blasé reply makes Ginny sigh impatiently at her. As they enter the Leaky Cauldron, she turns to Josie and frowns, "You know, you should be a bit more selfish, Josie. You've been in love with Bill for ages now – don't deny it – and you haven't done a single thing about it."</p><p>"Ginny, it isn't my place to get between Bill and Fleur," Josie tells her as she directs her towards the fireplace to floo home. Her voice is patient; she's already said the same thing in several different ways today, not only to Ginny but also to Fleur herself.</p><p>"I mean, you're obviously upset that Bill is marrying someone else," Ginny says as if Josie hadn't spoken. "But instead of coming forward and being honest with Bill, you just stew in your greed and let it get the better of you."</p><p>Josie, spluttering a bit now, repeats, <em>"Greed? </em>That's going a bit far, isn't it?"</p><p>Ginny only grabs the bowl of floo powder, takes a pinch of it, and throws it into the fire. As the flames turn green, she mutters, "There's no sense calling it anything else, is there? Come to the Burrow sometime this week, my mum wants to cook you dinner. See you!"</p><p>With that, Ginny steps into the flame and disappears, leaving Josie gaping into the fire in her wake, still spluttering. She's still a bit shaken by Ginny's words – the lot of them, if she's being honest – as she makes her way through the pub, passes Tom at the counter, and heads up to her room on the fourth floor. It isn't until she's halfway up the stairs that leads to the fourth floor that she has a thought – no, an epiphany.</p><p>The thought is this:</p><p>"<em>Beware who enter here, for those who live by way of greed will perish."</em></p><p>Josie pauses on the stairwell and stares unseeingly in front of her.</p><p>At once, the missing piece falls into place – the piece that she has been struggling to understand for months now, ever since she realized she was cursed in the first place. Everything comes rushing into her at full force, so quickly that her head spins and she feels that she ought to sit down. Only she can't, because she's still frozen on the stairs and her legs don't want to move.</p><p>
  <em>When I am conflicted about what action I ought to take, I often find it most useful to turn inward. You see, I have found that breaking most curses is actually quite simple, if you have a great enough desire to fix that part of yourself that has been cursed to begin with.</em>
</p><p><em>The </em>gold<em> is not cursed; </em>you<em> are.</em></p><p>
  <em>There is no such thing as cursed gold.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>We have to find the source of the curse first…</em>
</p><p>Greed.</p><p>
  <em>There's no sense calling it anything else.</em>
</p><p>Josie puts a hand on her forehead and stares unseeingly across her room at the wall behind her bed. Could it really be that simple? That <em>easy?</em></p><p>Her thoughts scramble together, building like a hailstorm, pounding against her skull; small revelations that, the longer she considers them, the more she wonders how on earth she did not realize them before. She's been utterly blind, earnestly trying to blame the gold for her troubles, when, in reality, <em>she</em> is to blame. <em>She</em> is the one who awakened this curse.</p><p>That is why the other members of the original expedition have not gotten cursed like she has. Their hearts were not full of greed. They already had everything they wanted. The curse bypassed them. When it saw that they did not yearn for the things they could not have, it released them entirely. But her, it targeted, because she has always had greed in her heart. She's been greedy for Bill's love for years, allowing it to consume her, allowing it to guide her every action. At Hogwarts, she did everything she could to stay by Bill's side. Even after Hogwarts, she couldn't help herself. Her own greed had already been festering within her long before she walked beneath the inscription at Sami Manqus.</p><p>Every decision, every action, was made to remain close to Bill, because she has always hoped that he would one day open his eyes and see her in the same way she sees him. Except he hadn't, because that's not how life works. Your presence alone has only a fleeting impact. It is what you do and say that matter, and in the end, Fleur did and said more than Josie ever could, because Josie was too afraid to tell Bill that he was never <em>only</em> her best friend. And so she missed her chance and Bill chose someone else and <em>that</em> was when the curse kicked in.</p><p>It didn't happen immediately. When she walked into Gringotts upon returning from Sami Manqus, she wasn't overcome with headaches and bloody noses. She saw Bill and Fleur talking to each other but her jealousy wasn't overpowering, yet. She was somewhat put-off, but it wasn't until she learned that the two of them were seeing each other that the greed in her heart began to truly manifest.</p><p>Josie feels a bolt of nausea gather force within her. She swallows tightly and leans against the wall. Yes, it makes sense – frighteningly so.</p><p>After all, her curse doesn't always act up. These past few weeks have been positively wonderful. Spending so much time with Bill had lessened the greed in her heart and diminished the headaches. It explains why she hardly felt the effects of her curse in Peru, as well. Fleur was not with them and she had Bill all to herself. Her jealousy is only sparked when she sees Bill and Fleur together, or thinks about them together, and that is when bad luck sweeps into her life and illnesses prey upon her.</p><p>
  <em>Those who live by way of greed will perish.</em>
</p><p>Yes, it all makes sense.</p><p>All she's ever wanted was to be with Bill. Her jealousy is her biggest flaw. But what does she do about it? Now that she sees the curse for what it really is, how does she break it?</p><p>Josie lingers there for half a moment more before she turns on her heel. Before she can even stop to consider what she is doing, she's hurrying back down the stairs she had only just ascended, rushing past Tom, and grabbing the bowl of floo powder above the fireplace.</p><p>"The Burrow!" she declares, and steps into the green flames.</p><hr/><p>It's been nearly a year since Josie had last entered this home. A year of malady and misfortune. A year of misery. Yet as she steps out of the fireplace and into the familiar sitting room that she has spent so many summers in, it feels as though she had never left at all.</p><p>Her arrival goes entirely unnoticed in the flurry of activity occurring from like the kitchen. She hears Mrs. Weasley's voice loudly tittering amidst the clanging of pots and pans. Upon further notice, she thinks she hears Ginny's voice weaving between her mother's. Molly must be asking how dinner had been, and from the sound of it, she's not too happy that her eldest son had funded the trip.</p><p>"Strolling into Diagon Alley this time of night with everything going on…" she tsks. As more pots and pans clang around, she adds, "And eating at the Hallberg's! Lobster! Can hardly believe it!"</p><p>Josie hurriedly brushes the soot from her clothes when she hears a patient voice respond, "Mum, it was just dinner. Besides, Diagon Alley is fairly safe still – "</p><p>"Oh hush, Bill," Molly interrupts quickly, "there'll be no talk about that when we're about to sit down for dinner! No go wash up and call the others down. Ginny, you're excused since you've eaten."</p><p>Pushing down her nerves, Josie whirls around to the mirror hanging over the fireplace to hastily check her hair. It's as messy as ever, so after a moment's contemplation, she just shrugs and turns back around. The mirror says, "I agree, dear, it's too frizzy to fix. Bit pitiful, if you ask me."</p><p>Josie's mouth quirks up at that and she chuckles as she heads towards the kitchen to locate Bill. Just as she's stepping up to the kitchen doorway, he appears on the other side and nearly bowls right into her.</p><p>"Josie!" he exclaims, sounding quite shocked to see her. His exclamation draws the attention of Molly and Ginny, who look up in surprise.</p><p>Molly pauses in the middle of setting a large bowl of green beans onto the counter and cries, "Josie, oh – is everything alright?"</p><p>Meanwhile, Ginny leans against the counter and raises an eyebrow at Josie as if questioning why she had followed her home. Her eyes flicker between her and Bill knowingly.</p><p>"Er, everything is fine, I just wanted to talk to Bill for a moment," Josie hurriedly replies before she can lose her courage. She glances up at him, only to find that he's studying her closely as he hovers beside her in the doorway, no doubt wondering if everything really <em>is</em> fine or if she's just placating his mother. His eyes are creased in concern as he catches her eye, his expression questioning.</p><p>Molly, though, only smiles kindly and, with a knowing look blazing across her face that looks startlingly similar to her daughter's, says, "Of course you did," as if she knew it all along.</p><p>Bill glances over his shoulder at his mum and, when he turns back to Josie, looks a touch more exasperated than he had a moment before. He lingers only a half a second longer before gesturing towards the sitting room and asking, "What did you want to talk about?"</p><p>Before Josie can so much as take a step, though, Molly bustles past them to peer through the curtains and sigh, "It's such a lovely evening. Why don't you both take a nice, quiet stroll through the gardens while you talk? Your father and I would always – "</p><p>"Great idea, mum," Bill quickly says, and grabs Josie's arm to drag her off before his mum can start spewing dating advice at them. In the kitchen, they can hear Ginny snort in amusement as Molly watches them go with a huge grin. Bill holds the front door open for Josie and they disappear outside, both eager to step away from Mrs. Weasley's romantic sighs.</p><p>"Merlin's pants," Bill mutters as he closes the door behind them. "You'd think she would've gotten over this by now…"</p><p>As Josie hums in halfhearted agreement, she thinks about what Ginny had said earlier that evening at the restaurant, about how Molly has been planning her and Bill's wedding since they were still at Hogwarts. She doesn't know if Bill is aware of that or not, but she decides not to mention it. It would rather counteract what she wants to say to him.</p><p>Right. What <em>does</em> she want to say? She has a general idea, but she's not sure what the right words are quite yet…</p><p>How does one go about telling their best friend and love of their life that they're happy he's found love with another person? And will that even be enough to break her curse? It's the first step, surely, but just because you say something aloud doesn't make it true. She reckons it won't be <em>that</em> easy, but it'll be a start.</p><p>"So…everything's okay?" Bill inquires as they maneuver around the many pairs of boots on the front steps. He nearly trips over one and mutters a bit as he kicks it out of his way. It disappears over the edge of the step and into a thicket of weeds that have yet to be pulled out.</p><p>Josie, still trying to figure out how to phrase what she wants to say, faintly responds, "Yeah…fine…" and stares thoughtfully ahead into the darkness. A thin crescent moon hangs in the sky far above, allowing only a small amount of light to shine upon their path. As they head out into the yard, though, their vision begins to adjust and Josie decides she's all the happier for the sparse light. This way, she doesn't have to see Bill's expression quite as clearly, which will mean that it will be somewhat easier to say her piece.</p><p>"You look like you're doing better," Josie muses, mainly to break the silence and buy her a bit more time. A strange, almost awkward tension seems to exist in the spaces between them, but she's not sure if it's coming from her alone or if he feels it, too. She's not sure why he would.</p><p>Bill stuffs his hands into his pockets and nods, "I'm ready to go back to work, but mum still refuses to let me floo anywhere, and she says apparation will only reopen the wounds. I think she just wants to keep me here as long as she can, though."</p><p>He chuckles a bit at this and kicks up a stone on the path in front of them. They're walking past the leaning-over shed now, which once housed Arthur's magically-restored Ford Anglia. After Harry and Ron had driven it to Hogwarts in their second year, it still hasn't decided to come home. According to Ron, it's become quite a wild car these days, content to adventure through the dangers of the Forbidden Forest.</p><p>Another strange, awkward silence settles upon them for a while as they pass the shed and walk towards the orchard. They only get about halfway there, though, before Bill reaches out to gently pull her to a stop and ask, "Josie, what's wrong? I can practically <em>hear</em> you overthinking."</p><p>She pauses, glances over at him, and runs a hand through her hair. Bill watches her with his brows turned down just so in confused silence, his face just barely visible due to their proximity.</p><p>"I'm really sorry, Bill, but I – I think you should ask Charlie to be your Best Man after all," she suddenly blurts out, surprising both Bill as well as herself, for she hadn't quite expected those words to come pouring from her lips. As such, Josie stands quite still, reeling from what she had just said, and Bill's eyebrows pull down a touch more.</p><p>"…Should I?" he wonders, not looking as though he knows what to say. He studies her closely again, eyes full of something she cannot identify – though whether that is merely because she can't see him very well through the darkness, she doesn't know.</p><p>Josie pulls her leather jacket tighter around her, glad she is wearing it despite the warmer weather. "I just think…with everything going on and all, and…I'm really happy for you, you know?" she says, suddenly changing course. Merlin, she's got no idea how to say this, but it seems like a good start, considering.</p><p>Bill looks extremely confused though. He raises his eyebrows now and says, "Er…thanks, Josie," though he doesn't seem entirely sure what he's actually thanking her <em>for</em>. "I should probably tell you, though – "</p><p>She swallows tightly and croaks, "I'm sorry I've distanced myself from you and all…these last few weeks have been really great."</p><p>Bill breaks out into a soft smile and responds, "Yeah, they have been…"</p><p>He looks like he wants to say more, but she can't let him; she needs to get this out.</p><p>"You're a really…<em>wonderful</em> man," she quickly says, not looking at him directly. "You deserve to be happy and – I'm glad Fleur makes you happy."</p><p>Bill's soft smile promptly fades back into confusion, but this time it is accompanied by something else, too. Josie doesn't notice because she's trying very hard not to look at him.</p><p>"I think you're pretty wonderful too, Josie," he murmurs, staring at her softly. She doesn't notice that, either. She does a moment later, though, when Bill suddenly adds, "But I should probably tell you that I don't need a Best Man anymore."</p><p>This time, Josie <em>does</em> look up at him, and she notices the soft way he's regarding her. As for the reasons behind it, however, she is still unsure. Confused, she wonders, "Why not? You've decided to do something else? You do realize that you're running out of time, right? The wedding's a little over a month away."</p><p>Bill runs a hand over the back of his neck and looks up at the moon. The thin crescent hangs above them, casting a gentle glow upon the earth. As he's looking up, Josie looks at him, brow furrowed as she waits for his response. He doesn't respond immediately, though. Instead, he keeps walking, and Josie follows until they reach the fence that sections off the yard from the fields that roll beyond it, which are hardly visible in the darkness.</p><p>Bill leans against one of the fence posts and slowly says, "Fleur and I…we decided to break things off. We aren't getting married." He casts a glance at her and quickly adds, "I meant to tell you back at St. Mungo's. I was just a bit nervous, I guess." He laughs, but it sounds a bit strained.</p><p>Josie, who is wondering if she had misheard him, faintly asks, "Nervous? Why?"</p><p>Her mind is spinning a bit. Had he really just said that he's not getting married after all? Had she imagined that? Her heart twists in her chest, but she isn't sure what the emotion is that drives it.</p><p>Again, he doesn't immediately respond. In fact, it takes him a few moments to say anything at all, which is very strange. In all the years Josie has known Bill, she's never seen him hesitate like this.</p><p>"I realized something in Peru," he tells her at last, staring up at the moon instead of at her face. "Something I think I always knew but never fully understood…until Ricardo came along, anyway."</p><p>Completely baffled and still wondering if she's dreaming, Josie raises her eyebrows. "…Ricardo?" she repeats.</p><p>Bill exhales loudly and mutters, "I guess watching the bloody Peruvian flirt with you constantly was what I needed to figure out my feelings for you." He swallows tightly and then…</p><p>"Josie, I love you," he breathes out, almost so quickly that his words seem to string together.</p><p>She breathes out too. Perhaps it's because she's heard him say those words so many times before, because her response is an automatic, "I know, Bill, I love you too – "</p><p>"No, I <em>love</em> you," he interrupts. "I broke off my wedding because you're the one I'm in love with."</p><p>Josie stares up at him with wide eyes and splutters, "What?"</p><p>Bill pauses, looks at her baffled expression, and chuckles a bit. "Yeah, I know, I was a bit surprised when I realized it too – "</p><p>"You love me? You're <em>in</em> love with me? As in, you <em>want</em> me?" she reiterates, sounding rather shocked.</p><p>Bill raises an eyebrow at her, suddenly wondering why he had been nervous, before. Honestly, it's just Josie. Just Josie. He smiles and agrees, "That about sums it up, yeah."</p><p>Josie stare at him for all of three seconds before spluttering, "I can't believe this."</p><p>This, admittedly, isn't what Bill had been expecting. If he was anticipating some sort of romantic, end-of-movie kiss, complete with a confession from <em>her</em>, he is quite disappointed. To be fair, though, Bill isn't entirely sure what he had actually been expecting, so he isn't disappointed so much as confused.</p><p>"Er…that's it?" he asks, tilting his head in bewilderment. "You 'can't believe this'?" When he sees the incredulous look on her face, he hastily adds, "Look, Josie, I get that you probably don't – "</p><p>"Bill," she cuts in, swallowing thickly. "Shut up for a moment."</p><p>He does, promptly, and just stares at her as if he's afraid she's a ticking bomb seconds from exploding. His eyes are creased with that very same wariness that she's seen in them for weeks now, ever since they returned to England and began to work out a cure for her curse. So <em>this</em> is why he's been acting so cautious around her.</p><p>With a shaky laugh, she says, "I've got to tell you something, too. I figured out how to break my curse."</p><p>He pauses, opens his mouth, and then shuts it again. He looks a bit unsure of what to say, in fact. His hesitance comes out in his voice when he murmurs, "Er…don't get me wrong, Josie, that's great news, but I just told you – "</p><p>"Just let me talk for a minute," she gently interrupts. Her hand strays to his arm as they lean against the fence side by side.</p><p>He is incredibly confused. See, a large part of him is expecting that his confession might not be well-received, because it's very possible that Josie only views <em>him</em> as a friend, and is inwardly cringing at the thought of him seeing her as anything more. This isn't true, of course. Josie has spent the last decade pining over Bill because she's an idiot who could never bring herself to get over him, but he doesn't know this because he is also an idiot. When two idiots come together, many frustrating things are likely to occur.</p><p>"Okay," he breathes out, staring at her closely, eyes still full of that wariness.</p><p>How does she begin? The revelation of her curse seems oddly faint now, in wake of Bill's confession and the news of his broken engagement. For a long moment, she scrambles her thoughts together, trying to figure out how to explain it all, but after a while Josie just ends up blurting, "Bill…we've been friends for a long time, right?"</p><p>He raises his eyebrows, looking confused and hesitant and wary, and murmurs, "…Yes?"</p><p>"In fact, I can hardly remember a time when we <em>weren't</em> friends," she adds.</p><p>He quirks a smile again, but it's still tainted with confusion.</p><p>"Did you know that your mum has been planning our wedding since we were at Hogwarts?" she asks, hardly knowing where she's even going with this. She finally hazards a glance at him, only to find that he's giving her a quizzical look.</p><p>In a voice that matches it, he replies, "Er, well it wouldn't surprise me."</p><p>Josie nods, though she isn't sure if it's in agreement or as a way of accepting his response. "Right. And all of your siblings always assumed that we'd end up together. Charlie was the absolute worst, remember?"</p><p>Bill chuckles. "Well, after he got over his annoying crush on you, anyway."</p><p>She grimaces out a smile.</p><p>"And it always made me really uncomfortable whenever they'd make comments about us," she reminds him, her heart thudding hard in her chest.</p><p>He nods slowly, staring at her with that cautious expression on his face, clearly not knowing why she's bringing this up.</p><p>"Haven't you ever wondered <em>why</em> it made me uncomfortable?" she forces out. She looks over at him and catches his gaze, waiting to see it fill with comprehension. She will have to wait just a little bit longer for that, though, because he still doesn't seem to know what she's trying to say.</p><p>A very confused Bill hedges, "Josie…I don't really understand where you're going with this."</p><p>She tightens her fingers around the fence that she's leaning against, and breathlessly says, "Bill, the inscription was what cursed me, not the Incan gold. <em>'Those who live by way of greed will perish.' </em>That's the curse. It's greed."</p><p>Bill stares at her, his brows furrowed. He leans back against the fence, thinking. His face is downturned, which Josie is just as glad for. It makes it a little bit easier for her when she rushes to explain, "It's so <em>simple,</em> it's no wonder why I didn't see it before. I mean, I thought it had to do with taking the gold out of the treasury room, but it's not that specific. The curse targets anyone who has greed in their hearts, and I…I've always been…with you, I…Bill – "</p><p>She makes the mistake of glancing over at him and her words die on her tongue. He's still leaning back against the fence, but he's turned his face towards her. Their eyes clash, locking together. He doesn't look quite as confused as before. In fact, there's a gleam in his eyes that seems frighteningly perceptive, as if he is silently reaching a conclusion of his own. There's something else there too, something she's been seeing a lot lately. It is caution and wariness blended with a very quiet hope, so tentative that it seems almost intangible.</p><p>"Josie," he murmurs slowly, "are you saying that you…that you're…"</p><p>Josie smiles humorless and, in a trembling voice, mumbles, "In love with you? Yeah."</p><p>He stares at her. He doesn't seem to know what to say. Perhaps he is in shock, reeling from her backwards confession, wondering if he's hearing her properly. And then…</p><p>"…How long?" he whispers, eyes trained to her face. His voice is low and edges with something Josie can't readily identify.</p><p>Her heart is near to hammering in her chest when she mumbles, "Fifth year," and then falls completely silent.</p><p>This is because, the moment these words are uttered, Bill lets out a heavy breath and turns his head away from her to stare into the night sky once more.</p><p>"Fifth year?" he repeats, sounding shaken. "But that's – you've really – all this time?" When she gives a tentative nod, he groans, "I'm such an idiot."</p><p>They both fall silent, partially because they're still processing everything, and partially because neither of them knows what to say. After a few moments, though, Josie quietly asks, "Did you really break off your engagement because you're…"</p><p>"In love with you? Yeah," Bill says, just as she had said a few minutes ago. He glances over at her, sees the hesitant way she's smiling, and turns to face her with a sigh. His gaze trails over her softly, studying the features that the moon highlights. The familiar face, the tentative eyes, the curly mess of hair…</p><p>They both smile at each other. It's a bit apprehensive, as if they are seeing each other for the first time. It's like the curtains on a great stage have opened to a new act, which is so novel from the ones that had preceded it that it leaves them both reeling. They stand there and stare at each other as if they aren't entirely sure what to do, now that the curtains have opened and the lights have illuminated the stage. It's blinding in a good way; they're both a little bit awed.</p><p>"…I can't believe I didn't see it before," he whispers, staring at her as if he thinks she is only an illusion conceived by the moon, and perhaps he is making this all up in his head.</p><p>Josie releases a breath and murmurs, "And <em>I</em> can't believe you broke your wedding off."</p><p><em>Because of me.</em> The words hang in the air between them just so.</p><p>Bill sighs and looks back up to the moon far above them. As he leans against the fence, it creaks lightly in the night. The sound is oddly grounding; a sliver of reality that adds a certain weight to the otherwise flimsy atmosphere.</p><p>In a quiet voice, he admits, "I've been trying to work up the courage for a while now. My relationship with Fleur…it all happened so quickly. What with everything going on, proposing to her felt like the right thing to do at the time." Then, glancing at her, he adds, "Until I realized how incredibly blind I've been, anyway."</p><p>He watches her send him a tentative smile and then opens his arms to her in a silent invitation. For a split second, Josie wonders if it would be wise to accept it, but then she remembers that this is Bill, and regardless of the truths they have just confessed, he's still her best friend. Except – as she shuffles into him and wraps her arms around his waist, hugging him doesn't feel the same as it always has. There is an element of intensity to this embrace that follows along the new act that the curtains have revealed.</p><p>Still, she lays her cheek against his shoulder and tries to keep her breathing even. It's strange to think about how intimate this feels, as he wraps his arms around her and drops his chin against her head. It's just a hug, something they've done a thousand times, and yet right now it feels like it's so much <em>more</em>.</p><p>Against the fabric of his shirt, she murmurs, "You do realize that Ricardo was <em>trying</em> to make you jealous, don't you? I told him about my feelings for you ages ago."</p><p>Bill pauses. Evidently, he did not know this, because he pulls back just so to catch her eye and asks, "You mean that the bloody Peruvian did all of that on purpose just to make me jealous?"</p><p>Well, now that he thinks about it, perhaps he isn't that surprised.</p><p>Josie chuckles and shrugs, "Oh, I'm sure he had fun doing it."</p><p>Bill huffs, "Undoubtedly."</p><p>After a moment, they both laugh and he muses, "So…if the source of your curse is greed, then how do we break it?"</p><p>Reminder of her curse makes Josie sigh and pull away. Bill lets her, watching her expression as she frowns and mumbles, "That's why I told you that I was happy you were with Fleur, because I thought it was the first step in letting you go, but then you ruined all my plans."</p><p>He grins at her for that last bit, then his smile fades into a more thoughtful expression as he murmurs, "Wasn't your greed due to the fact that I was with Fleur in the first place, though?"</p><p>He watches her freeze as she processes this suggestion. A moment later, Josie is spinning back around to face him, looking a bit startled.</p><p>"It would stand to reason," he murmurs slowly, "that since Fleur and I are breaking things off, your curse will also be broken."</p><p>She is quiet for several long seconds before she raises a hand to scrub it through her hair and say, "That would be way too easy. We're talking about a powerful, ancient Incan curse. There's no way it would just break without any effort on my part."</p><p>At this, Bill shrugs, "Oh, I'm sure it will take effort. You'll have to stop pining after me and being stupidly in love." He sends her a small grin, as if the thought of her yearning for him makes him rather pleased.</p><p>She, on the other hand, looks quite confused. "But I thought you just said you were in love with me, too."</p><p>For a moment, they just stare at each other. Then Bill is quietly telling her, "I am, but maybe you should try to be a little <em>less</em> in love for a while until we figure out if the curse is really broken or not."</p><p>Josie's mouth parts. When she splutters out, "You're <em>amused</em> by this, aren't you," it's somewhat bitter.</p><p>The statement succeeds in vanishing his slight smile, because Bill purses his mouth again and murmurs, "No, well not really. I'm just…I guess I'm still trying to come to terms with the fact that you've been in love with me all this time…" He sends her a smile that looks a bit strained, and mutters, "My own feelings have blindsided me a bit, if you haven't noticed."</p><p>She isn't really sure what to say to that, because in truth, she <em>hadn't</em> noticed. She's been so distracted with her own problems that she hasn't really noticed anything. There has been something strange going on between Bill and Fleur lately, but she hadn't wanted to get in the middle of it, thinking that it would only hurt her all the more if she had. His feelings have been a complete mystery to her, until now.</p><p>Josie sighs. "Okay, so what you're saying is that we should just wait and see if the curse is broken? It seems like a flimsy plan, don't you think?"</p><p>He shrugs and replies, "In any other instance, maybe. But you said yourself that Incan magic is less structured compared to ours, right? Maybe we've been going about it all wrong, making things more complicated than they need to be."</p><p>She stares at him in surprise. Perhaps he has a point. Incan magic is raw and unfiltered. It plays to the strengths of its wielders, who lived far simpler lives. Perhaps they <em>have</em> been overthinking their various techniques to break the curse. The ritual magic, the potion, the gold…Dumbledore had even said that in his own experience, these kinds of curses are easy to break if you have enough determination to go inward and fix the part of yourself that had been cursed to begin with.</p><p>"It just seems too easy," she says.</p><p>Bill only slips an arm over her shoulders and responds, "Let's just give it some time to work itself out, and if you're still getting headaches and bloody noses, then we'll know that we have to change our strategy."</p><p>She supposes it's the best course of action that they could take, for now. After all, maybe the magic will reverse itself all on its own…</p><p>"We should be careful though," she rushes out, twisting her hands together and refusing to look at him. "There could be residual magic, or…or something."</p><p>Finally, she hazards a glance at him, only to find Bill looking at her with a raised eyebrow. "Are you feeling jealous of Fleur right now?" he asks.</p><p>The answer to that is fairly obvious. Josie flushes a bit and mutters, "No. Actually, I feel like I can't breathe very well." Then she pauses and hurriedly adds, "I meant that in a good way – "</p><p>"I know what you meant," he whispers, intently staring at her.</p><p>She stares back at him and worries at her bottom lip once more, until his eyes dart down to said lip and she stops. Swallowing tightly, Josie hoarsely tells him, "This is all so sudden. I didn't expect you to return my feelings. I'm not really sure what to do now."</p><p>There's an almost crazed edge in her voice that makes Bill pause and lift his eyes back to hers. He sends her an understanding expression and sighs, "Would you rather I hadn't said anything? Do you want to forget it ever happened?"</p><p>Merlin, he really hopes not.</p><p>Josie swallows again and gingerly reaches up, setting her hands against his chest with an almost timid energy, as if she isn't quite sure she should. Bill watches her, his heart beating quick and fast, but doesn't move.</p><p>"No," she whispers, "I don't want you to take any of it back. I just think I need time to process everything. I mean, you just broke off the wedding…it's so sudden and I…" she trails off looking unsure.</p><p>Bill sends her a small smile and breathes, "I'll give you time, then. Anything you need."</p><p>She smiles back, though she still looks unsure. "…I'm sorry, I know this isn't what you were hoping for – "</p><p>"Josie," he cuts in with a laugh. He's so close that she feels the exhale of it against her cheek. "What have I told you about apologizing for stupid things?"</p><p>She purses her mouth to stop herself from smiling and Bill encircles his arm around her waist and slowly pulls her against him again. He feels her breathe out, wrap her arms around him too, and bury her face against his shoulder like she had before. And, like before, there's a subtle tension between them, but it isn't quite as apparent this time around. Instead of being nerve-wracking, this time it's shaky in a softer way, warm and new and tentative.</p><p>Quietly, he turns his cheek to her hair and murmurs, "I still can't believe you've been in love with me since fifth year."</p><p>Josie mumbles, "Do you think that's crazy?"</p><p>Bill pauses thoughtfully and, hauling her closer, shrugs, "Yeah, but I reckon I've been in love with you for ages too, only I was an idiot for not realizing it. Do you think <em>that's</em> crazy?"</p><p>She laughs against his shoulder and responds, "Definitely," and he smiles into her hair.</p>
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<a name="section0018"><h2>18. Never get Swindled by a Fraud</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks to everyone else who reviewed :) I love reading all of your feedback and thoughts on the story. There's a lot going on in this chapter, so I hope you all enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  <strong>Chapter Eighteen | Never get Swindled by a Fraud</strong>
</p><p>The next week is strange, to say the least. Bill stays true to his word and gives Josie some space to consider everything that's happened. They still see each other daily at work, of course, but their conversations go no further than simple greetings said in passing. That's not to say that the atmosphere is stilted or awkward between them, though.</p><p>"Morning, Jos," Bill murmurs as he meets her on the front steps of Gringotts. He sends her a small smile, eyes bright, and opens the door for her.</p><p>Josie grins a bit bashfully and murmurs, "…Morning, Bill," as she steps inside.</p><p>"How're you feeling today?" he asks – a question that she has come to expect every morning. The question isn't as generic as it outwardly appears. He's actually asking her about her curse, and whether it's come back or not, and it makes her feel warm to be on the receiving end of his concern.</p><p>As they walk towards the lift that will take them up to their respective floors, she responds, "Great," and she means it.</p><p>He pushes the button and, as the doors open, Bill's hand alights upon the small of her back. His response is a low, murmured, "That's good to hear." His voice, coupled with the lingering touch, makes her heart beat fast.</p><p>He's taken to doing that more often. Touching her, that is. It's just little things, like putting his hand on her shoulder whenever they're in the break room together and he's reaching around her to get a mug, or upon her back when they're stepping through the same door. It always happens so quickly that it seems as though he doesn't even realize he's doing it, but Josie knows better. There's a light in his eyes whenever it happens that tells her every action is deliberate. Neither of them remarks upon it, though. It feels, almost, that if they do, some of the magic of it will be broken; the thrill of it won't be as complete.</p><p>But the thrill is more than just complete – it's overpowering. The last time Josie had felt this way, she'd been a teenager with a stupid crush. Every morning is a beautiful new interlude. She's never been so eager to get to work before, which is saying something because she happens to love working at Gringotts. Still, she hasn't tried to speak to Bill about his confession. It isn't because she's nervous to be around him. It's not even because she's afraid that the curse will return. The main reason, actually, is because of a certain French witch, who had returned to the office some days after Bill had admitted to being in love with Josie.</p><p>It feels distinctly wrong, mooning after Bill when Fleur is there. It hasn't stopped her before, of course, but this time it's different. Bill and Fleur aren't together anymore. From the few interactions Josie has witnessed between them since they called off the wedding, they appear to be on decent terms, but the thought of pursuing something with Bill right under Fleur's nose just doesn't seem right. Josie doesn't dislike Fleur. On the contrary, the French witch has rather grown on her. It seems that the feeling is mutual, to some degree.</p><p>"Hello, Jozephine," Fleur greets when Josie arrives at her desk to hand over some paperwork.</p><p>Josie sends her an awkward smile and mumbles, "Hi, Fleur. Is…everything going alright with you?"</p><p>Fleur sends her an awkward smile back and takes the paperwork. "I'm resigning," she informs her. "I'm going back to France. This is my last week." Josie's surprise must be evident, because Fleur shrugs, "I do not think I could stay here…"</p><p>"I'm sorry," Josie ends up blurting out, not really knowing what to say. But Fleur only waves her off.</p><p>"It was only a part-time job, after all," Fleur says in response, not looking as though she wants to continue the conversation.</p><p>As much as Josie doesn't hate Fleur, she also doesn't know her very well, so she doesn't linger very long after that and takes her leave. It is true, though: she <em>is</em> sorry. Of course, it would be an utter lie if she said she wasn't also incredibly <em>happy,</em> as well. The mixed emotions she feels over Bill and Fleur's breakup makes her very conflicted, which is yet another reason why she hasn't spoken to Bill yet. Thankfully, he seems to understand. He doesn't push her into talking to him, even after Fleur's final week comes to an end.</p><p>Josie sees Bill and Fleur saying goodbye in the lobby when she heads out for lunch, but she doesn't linger to watch, and just darts off before either of them see her. Fleur's resignation has mixed reactions within the various departments of the bank itself, too. Most people are sad to see her go. In the year that she's been at Gringotts, she's become something of a fixture to the bank. Everyone is used to seeing her at her desk, happily diving through her work; or in the break room, preparing tea for meetings and employees; or walking the halls, engaging people in conversation and asking off-the-wall questions about what various English words mean and why English grammar is so strange. The first day of Fleur's absence is odd even for Josie, who has also grown accustomed to her presence in the office. Bill, though, seems to be the one who receives the most backlash for Fleur's resignation.</p><p>No one can quite believe that he had called the wedding off. Their male coworkers seem to think that he's crazy for letting Fleur go. Janice from floor two has a slightly different perspective on the matter, though:</p><p>"I heard she has a French lover in Paris who's been writing to her, trying to convince her to come home," she gushes to Josie in the break room several days after Fleur's leave. "Do you think she's been cheating on Bill all this time?"</p><p>Josie, not particularly in the mood for Janice's gossip, puts an end to it with a hard, "Fleur would never do that to Bill, Janice." She sends Janice a glower before swinging out of the break room to return to her office, feeling rather annoyed that Janice can't just get her tea from the second floor.</p><p>Her response to Janice's unhealthy gossip works though. She doesn't catch wind of any further rumors, which she's thankful for. As if Bill needs to deal with that on top of everything else. If Josie is being truthful, the workplace gossip is yet another reason why she hasn't approached Bill yet. She can only imagine what rumors would spring up if her and Bill started seeing each other right now…</p><p>"<em>I wonder if that's why Fleur left! Because she caught Bill and Josie together one night."</em></p><p>"<em>Those two have been spending an awful lot of time in their offices after work…"</em></p><p>"<em>Merlin, how awful! Having an affair right under Fleur's nose like that!"</em></p><p>Yes, Josie can just imagine it.</p><p>So instead of jumping into something she doesn't think she's quite ready for, despite it being ten years in the making, Josie goes about her business and hopes that the latest gossip regarding Bill and Fleur blows over. Bill appears to be doing much the same, though it doesn't stop him from sending her small smiles in the hallways, or grazing his hand against her whenever she's standing nearby, or leaving her cups of peppermint tea and notes.</p><p>Merlin, the notes…that's another thing entirely. Lately, he's taken to leaving them nearly every morning. They're simple things, mostly, scrawled across thin pieces of parchment and tucked between the cup and saucer of the peppermint tea. They say things like <em>'You look better these days'</em> and <em>'I'm waiting to speak to you'.</em> One day about two weeks after Bill's confession, she receives one that makes her somewhat confused, though.</p><p>It says, <em>'Tonight, 9 o'clock, or I'm coming to you.'</em></p><p>Josie raises an eyebrow at it and takes a sip of the peppermint tea. As always, it seems to rejuvenate her entirely. Though her curse does indeed seem to be fully broken, and she hasn't felt the physical manifestations of it for some time now, the effects of the tea still feels just as powerful as ever. The moment she takes the first sip, her confusion washes away, too.</p><p>Well, she should have expected this, right? Bill has been waiting for a while now, giving her the space she said she needed. Surely he's beginning to grow impatient, though, especially now that Fleur has returned to France. Really, it makes sense that he would want to talk with her, and it isn't that strange that he wants to meet at 9 o'clock at night. It isn't as though they've never met up at such a late hour before.</p><p>Still, she decides to check on him to make sure, so at lunchtime, she heads to the lift to make her way up to the Egyptian division, where his office is located. When she pokes her head inside, though, Bill isn't there. His jacket and briefcase are both gone, his desk is far too organized, and it appears as though he hasn't even stepped foot inside his office at all today. Now that she thinks about it, she hasn't seen him yet either. They don't always make it to work at the same time, so she hadn't thought much of it until now.</p><p>"What are you doing up here, Devonport?" Robert Wright asks when he sees her lingering by Bill's office. He seems to be in better spirits today, because his eyes aren't as sharp as usual when he turns to her.</p><p>Josie hedges, "Oh, um. I was just looking for Bill."</p><p>That much is fairly obvious, seeing as she's in the process of closing Bill's door. Wright, however, doesn't bark at her for it. He seems to still be feeling a bit impressed with her for all the research she did for the Egypt cases some weeks back, because his response is a simple, "Weasley took the day off. Said he had business with his family."</p><p>Josie is surprised to hear this. With a confused frown, she wonders, "So he hasn't come to the office at all today?"</p><p>Wright does seem to grow a tad bit impatient with this question, because his reply is slightly less relaxed. "No. Like I said, he took the day off."</p><p>He doesn't wait for Josie to ask any other circular questions before walking off. Josie stares after him with that confused frown still lingering on her face. If Bill hasn't been to the office today, how did he manage to leave her the tea and the note? Had he convinced one of their coworkers to do it in his stead? Or perhaps he really had been to the office before she arrived, but had left before Wright had seen him.</p><p>Feeling distinctly off, as if some part of her knows that none of these possibilities makes sense, Josie returns to her office to continue her work and tries to push her confusion away. There's nothing for it. If Bill really does want to talk to her, he knows where she's staying. She'll wait to see if he comes to the Leaky Cauldron tonight and if he does, she'll ask him how he is capable of sneaking tea into her office without her actually seeing him do it.</p><p>So after work hours are over, Josie does indeed head back to her broom closet room. She puts her things away before going back into the pub and ordering some dinner from Tom. By the time she's finished the butterbeer she'd ordered with her meal, it's nearing seven o'clock, so Josie decides to get a bit more work done while she waits. At eight thirty, she's finished with a bit of research Artie wanted her to conduct.</p><p>Bill doesn't come at nine o'clock, though. Josie, recalling what Wright had said about him having business with his family, wonders if perhaps Bill actually had some sort of Order business to conduct. Perhaps it's held him up. Slightly worried with the thought, Josie collapses onto her bed and stares up at the low ceiling of her broom-closet-turned-room. She drops her wand onto the top of her dresser when it digs uncomfortably into her back, and listens to the soft ticking of the clock. After a while, her eyes drift closed. Whether she actually ends up falling asleep or not, she doesn't know, but when a knock does indeed sound at her door at half past nine, Josie is feeling quite bleary as she sits up.</p><p>For a moment, she can't quite remember what's going on, because her sleep-addled brain seems to have forgotten the reason why she's waiting at all. When the knock comes again though, slightly impatient this time, it all comes back to her and she rushes over to the door, eager to see Bill. Her eagerness disappears immediately when she opens the door, though.</p><p>Bill is not on the other side. Instead, a witch that Josie has not seen for some weeks is standing behind the door, her hand raised to knock again. Kohl-lined eyes capture hers immediately, creased in a way that seems rather irritable.</p><p>"Catalina?" Josie asks, thinking for a moment that perhaps she's dreaming.</p><p>But she isn't. Catalina shoulders her way into Josie's room and declares, "So <em>this</em> is where you're hiding. I must admit, Josephine, I hadn't thought you were so cowardly when we first met."</p><p>Now, Josie doesn't much like being called a coward. She is, after all, a Gryffindor, and Gryffindors possess a rather thick skin. Bravery is in their blood. They may hesitate every once in a while to take action, but when it comes down to it, a Gryffindor will always find some measure of courage hidden within their hearts. To be called a coward usually makes them quite indignant. For Josie, she is feeling a bit more than just indignant at the moment, though.</p><p>"I wasn't <em>hiding</em> from you," she says, sounding ruffled at the notion. "I just decided to break my curse using other means. Just because I decided not to do that ritual – "</p><p>"Where is the Incan gold?" Catalina cuts in, spinning around the small room as if she's measuring potential hiding places that may exist therein. She scans Josie's dresser, then looks over to the bed and the floorboards beneath it. She seems to be restraining herself from ransacking the place. The gleam of her eyes appears rather manic.</p><p>Feeling uncomfortable, Josie crosses her arms and slowly responds, "Why do you want to know?"</p><p>Catalina quickly spins around to face Josie and, at once, her features change. The calm and collected expression alters to a deep, ugly scowl. The eyes, which were already irritated, become dark and angry. But it is her voice that changes the most, when she hisses, "You have wronged me, Josephine Devonport. You, who I offered to help! Who I took under my wing out of the kindness of my heart!"</p><p>Josie, startled now, gapes at her.</p><p>Catalina advances towards her and demands, "Where is the gold? You owe me payment for my services! <em>You owe me!"</em></p><p>Josie stumbles back and quickly says, "I don't owe you anything – I paid you for the vial of Moondrops – and by the way, I know what they are now – "</p><p>Catalina laughs then, and it is an ugly laugh; a mad sort of cackle that makes the hair on the back of Josie's neck stand up. Madness gleams in her eyes too, as Catalina scoffs, "You should thank me for the Moondrops. They helped you, did they not? They help you even now. Do you think I've been idling away my days, waiting for you to find the courage to return to my shop?"</p><p>Josie splutters, then says in a harsher voice, "I've already told you, I had no reason to return to your shop! It's not because I'm <em>afraid</em> of you."</p><p>Catalina sneers at her. She steps closer to Josie, who is now reaching into her pocket to grip her wand with one hand, and with the other reaches out for the doorknob as if preparing to bolt. Catalina demands, "Why have you not responded to any of my notes, then, asking to see you?"</p><p>Confusion flares through Josie's eyes. Catalina notices, and lifts her eyebrows high into her hairline. The slight wrinkles around her mouth become more severe as she suddenly smiles in dark amusement.</p><p>"Gullible people are so easy to manipulate," Catalina crows. "Who did you think was sending you those notes every day? Who did you think was making you that tea?"</p><p>A tight knot of dread begins to stitch together her stomach. Josie stares at Catalina with shocked eyes. Her mind is absolutely reeling.</p><p>"That was <em>you?"</em> she asks, so incredulous that she ends up spluttering her way through the words.</p><p>Suddenly the bigger picture slams into Josie's skull. The notes, the peppermint tea – the fact that there hadn't been any of such tea in the break room, when Josie had looked. The oddity of some of those messages, which Josie had merely pushed aside at the time, thinking that Bill was simply in a strange mood.</p><p>
  <em>I'm waiting to speak to you.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Leaky Cauldron, fourth floor, broom closet.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Tonight, 9 o'clock, or I'm coming to you.</em>
</p><p>But those hadn't even been from Bill. He hasn't been sending her notes after all. Why would he? He's been giving her space. He's been letting her call the shots…</p><p>"But – but how did you – the tea?" Josie splutters, edging further against the door as Catalina shuffles closer. Her hand grips the doorknob tightly, so hard that her fingers blanch bone-white.</p><p>Catalina's laughter seems to have dissipated. She stares at Josie with dark eyes and murmurs, "Do you really think I couldn't make someone do my bidding with the right spell?"</p><p>Josie stares at her, looking slightly horrified.</p><p>"What do you mean, 'the right spell'? Have you been using the – the <em>Imperius</em> curse?" she demands, her thoughts reeling together as she struggles to put this into perspective. If Catalina really had used someone else to do all of this, then that means it has to be someone who has access to her office, but she hadn't noticed anything strange from her coworkers as of late, so who…?</p><p>Catalina doesn't appear to be in the mood to explain, nor indeed to admit to using a spell that would mean a lifetime sentence in the most notorious wizarding prison in the world. Instead, she stares at Josie and demands, "Where is the Incan gold, Josephine?"</p><p>Josie, still reeling, snaps, "Why do you want it? Your ritual is probably fake anyway. You obviously don't want to help me – you probably made all that stuff up about the curse, knowing that I'd believe you!"</p><p>Catalina scoffs at her and responds, "Of course I did, you stupid girl. You made it so easy, drunkenly explaining your bruises and headaches, that man being engaged to another woman – "</p><p>"So the curse never pushed anyone away! That was all me!" Josie realizes, momentarily forgetting about the Imperius curse in favor of this new information.</p><p>"Desperation is a very useful tool," Catalina growls.</p><p>Josie splutters, gripping her wand tightly. "The <em>maldición del oro</em> doesn't even exist, does it? <em>Does </em>it? I was only a means to an end."</p><p>And as she stares into Catalina's eyes, Josie knows that she's right. This revelation, though, is darker and colder, and she is filled with an intense wariness as Catalina narrows her eyes at her and hisses, <em>"Tell me where the gold is."</em></p><p>Josie, seeing the impatient gleam in Catalina's eyes, grits her teeth and lifts her wand, but Catalina is faster. The next moment, the witch is exclaiming, <em>"Expelliarmus!" </em>and Josie's wand is shooting out of her hand and knocking into the far wall of the room. Granted, said room is so small that it's only a few meters away from her, but Catalina quickly turns her wand to her and Josie dares not move to retrieve it. Instead, her hand flies out behind her and turns the doorknob. But Catalina lunges forward before she can make her escape, closing the distance between them with three quick steps. She throws her hands around Josie's neck before the door can be pulled open and digs her wand beneath Josie's chin.</p><p>"Tell me," she madly demands, pressing Josie against the now-closed door and squeezing her fingers around her neck<em>. "Tell me."</em></p><p>Josie scrabbles at Catalina's hands, clawing her nails over them in an attempt to break her hold. She is unsuccessful, though; Catalina is currently a bit desperate herself, and she has no intention of letting Josie go without first collecting the Incan gold.</p><p>Not knowing what else to do, Josie – gasping for breath now – lifts her hand and points a shaking finger at her mattress. Catalina turns her head to look where she is pointing. The moment her eyes alight upon the bedframe, Josie sends a swift kick to Catalina's leg. The abrupt pain makes the witch crumble for a split second, which is enough time for Josie to throw her off and finally turn the knob of her door. She hears Catalina scrambling after her as she darts into the hallway and runs for the stairs, wildly throwing herself down them two steps at a time. Whether she follows her into the main room of the pub, though, Josie doesn't stop to find out. She's pushing the doors of the Leaky Cauldron open moments later, and, wandless, runs out into the rainy, moonlit streets of Diagon Alley.</p><p>Her wand is still in her room at the Leaky Cauldron and without it, she can't apparate, so instead she just runs. She doesn't think she's ever run as fast as she does now. Even though she knows that Catalina isn't following her, Josie still pushes herself as fast as she can. She's breathless with panic. Her heart is thudding so loudly that it's all she can hear. Even when she clamors up the stairs of the building Bill lives in and starts slamming her fist on his door, she can barely hear anything but the quick, hard thud of her heart against her ribcage. This is her only hope, and it's dependent on whether Bill has finished up with whatever business had taken him out of the office today.</p><p>"Bill!" she shouts, hardly able to breathe from running across the Alley as she had. There's a stitch in her side that feels like a dagger between her ribs. She's sweating, her eyes wild, her heart thumping so hard in her chest that it feels like it's seconds from collapsing. Frightened, stressful tears are welling up in her eyes. They grow more desperate the longer she stands outside his unopened door.</p><p>Oh Merlin. What if he's not here? What if he's at the Burrow? What if –</p><p>"Josie?" Bill asks, tearing the door open and gaping at her.</p><p>The relief that cuts through her when she sees him is so overpowering that it steals the very last of her breath. She can't even bring herself to say his name again; all she can do is let out a whimpering, pathetic sob as the tears finally spill onto her cheeks. She lunges forward and throws her arms around his neck, shaking into him so thoroughly that all Bill can do is stand there in utter bewilderment. He comes to his senses when she starts sobbing into his shoulder, and, frowning in concern, herds her into his flat and shuts the door behind her.</p><p>"Josie?" Bill asks, tearing the door open and gaping at her.</p><p>The relief that cuts through her when she sees him is so overpowering that it steals the very last of her breath. She can't even bring herself to say his name again; all she can do is let out a pathetic sob as the tears finally spill onto her cheeks. She lunges forward and throws her arms around his neck, shaking into him so thoroughly that all Bill can do is stand there in utter bewilderment. He comes to his senses when she starts sobbing into his shoulder, and, frowning in concern, herds her into his flat and shuts the door behind her.</p><p>"Shh, Josie," he murmurs, pulling her into him firmly. He pulls back to look at her face, lifts a hand to push her hair back, and asks, "What's wrong? What happened?" Then, with increasing worry, he scans her form and demands, "Are you hurt?"</p><p>Josie barely manages to shake her head. Bill purses his mouth, eyes still blaring with worry. He guides her over to the couch and sits her down.</p><p>"What's going on?" he asks, sounding quite bewildered as he watches her lean over her knees and bury her face in her hands.</p><p>In a thick, shaky voice, Josie croaks, "Catalina was in my room at the Leaky Cauldron. She wanted the – the Incan – gold – "</p><p>"<em>What?"</em> Bill asks, crouching down in front of her. He still looks very confused, but mention of Catalina summons a certain anxiety, which creeps through his body like ice.</p><p>In a thick, shaky voice, Josie tells him everything. She tells him that Catalina has been leaving her notes and Moondrop-spiked tea, which she thought were from him. She tells him how Catalina had come to her room at the Leaky Cauldron, demanding the gold as payment for the services she never actually performed, how Josie had left her wand behind and didn't know if Bill was here and how scared she was at the prospect of him being gone. Finally, she tells him about the way Catalina and attacked her.</p><p>Bill stares at her, eyes spinning over her face. He seems to be thinking this over, because he doesn't say anything for a long moment. As a thick silence descends upon them, Josie rubs her hands over her cheeks and tries to compose herself, but every time she blinks, the memory of Catalina's khol-lined gaze makes her efforts fruitless. Then, suddenly, Bill's hands are reaching up to cup her face and pushing her tears away, and when Josie looks down at him, his fiercely protective expression makes her fall silent. She's safe with him, she reminds herself. This is Bill. Of course she is.</p><p>"I'm going to get us a drink," he murmurs to her, "and then we're going to sit down and figure this out, okay?"</p><p>Josie nods silently, trying to steady her breathing, and watches him stand up. She nearly drags him back down before he can stride off into the kitchen. Even though she can easily see into said kitchen from where she's sitting, the thought of being alone in any capacity right now makes her uncomfortable.</p><p>But Bill makes it easy for her, because the next moment, he's calling, "I've got mulled mead, Ogden's Old, or some of that frilly elf-made wine that looks like it's been doused with glitter."</p><p>And despite the dread unspooling in her stomach, she can't quite help but snort out a laugh. She turns her head to view the kitchen, just in time to see Bill's head of red hair turn in her direction. He sends her a wink.</p><p>"Maybe some Ogden's," she calls back, her voice still hoarse from crying. She needs something strong.</p><p>Bill pours them both a tall glass and brings it back into the sitting room. Her hands shake when she takes her glass. Bill notices, of course, but doesn't say anything until he's sitting down beside her. He waits until she takes a sip before breaking the silence. It's only after she swallows the burning liquid that he murmurs, "So let me get this straight. Back in Peru, you said that Catalina overheard you telling Tom about being cursed in the Leaky Cauldron. Since you've already realized that the source of the curse is greed, it's obvious that Catalina fabricated everything. She must've been after the Incan gold."</p><p>He pauses, watching her closely, and asks, "What exactly did she tell you, when you first went to see her?"</p><p>She glances over at him mournfully, looking quite sorry for herself. "Well, obviously she said that the gold itself was cursed, which isn't true. Then she said that in order to break it, I needed to collect all the coins so that she could do a ritual on them, which I can't believe I fell for, in hindsight."</p><p>Bill squeezes her hand. "Never mind that," he tells her. "You were in a bad spot and you were desperate for answers. Anyone would've done the same."</p><p>The word 'desperate' makes Josie cringe again. She can hear Catalina's voice in her mind, crowing about how desperation is a useful tool.</p><p>"What else did she say?" Bill asks. The question distracts her just enough to make Catalina's gleeful expression fade from her mind.</p><p>"…She said the curse pushed people away, but that wasn't true either," Josie whispers. <em>"I'm</em> to blame for that."</p><p>How many times had she blamed her curse for the fact that none of her old friends seemed to care about her these days? For Ginny's lack of correspondence, which used to be a weekly occurance? For Bill pushing her away in favor of Fleur?</p><p>"Jos," Bill murmurs. He hooks his knee onto the couch so as to face her fully, and puts down his glass to take her hand in both of his. "Does it look like you've pushed me away?"</p><p>She blinks, then lifts her face to look at him. He's staring at her with a sincere light in his eyes. Her lower lip trembles again.</p><p>"No, I suppose not," she croaks. "You're too stubborn."</p><p>The edge of his mouth quirks up. So does hers, after a moment spent wrangling her tears down. Several quiet seconds pass in this manner until Bill asks, "What were you saying about tea and notes?"</p><p>The question makes her groan in embarrassment, but at least she isn't feeling the same urge to bawl her eyes out this time around. "…Lately, when I get into my office in the morning, there's tea waiting for me on my desk. Since I don't exactly go around telling people that I like peppermint tea, I just thought…"</p><p>He finishes for her with a murmured, "You thought I was leaving it for you."</p><p>Josie nods, and scrubs her hands over her face. "And there were notes too. I thought you were writing them. They looked a bit like your messy handwriting."</p><p>Bill frowns, "So Catalina was leaving you the tea and she was spiking it with Moondrops? And the notes?"</p><p>He feels incredibly guilty for assuming that Josie was safe in that unprotected broom closet. He should have seen this coming. He should have known that Catalina wouldn't let this go so easily.</p><p>Josie shifts uncomfortably, recalling Catalina's words from before. "I think she used the Imperius curse on someone in the office," she rushes to tell Bill, wringing her hands together. "She made it sound like she was making someone else leave the notes. She said she used a spell to do it."</p><p>This makes Bill frown. The Unforgivable Curses are not to be taken lightly.</p><p>"Let's go over this," he murmurs, beginning to comb his fingers through her hair. "This started right after we returned from Peru?"</p><p>Josie doesn't look at him as she nods, but she can feel her cheeks blaze with embarrassment. Now that they're both a bit calmer, she feels rather stupid that she had made an assumption like that – until Bill sighs, "Well that <em>was</em> around the time I realized how pathetically in love with you I am, so the timeline would make sense."</p><p>Josie, still blushing, doesn't respond, so Bill turns his head and whispers, "You don't have to be embarrassed about it."</p><p>Damn him for knowing her so well. Even when she mumbles, "…I'm not," she can tell that he doesn't believe her, because she can feel him smile as he pulls her against him.</p><p>"But Catalina was actually the one sending the notes and leaving you tea, which was spiked with Moondrops. She used someone else to do it," Bill continues in a slightly more serious tone.</p><p>Josie nods.</p><p>"The peppermint was masking the Moondrops, so you didn't notice. But Gringotts is the safest place in the country besides Hogwarts, so it would make sense that she needed to get someone else to do her bidding. The question is, who?" He trails off for a moment, then shakes his head and sighs,<br/>"What about the notes? What sort of messages were you receiving?"</p><p>She feels another blush crowd over her cheeks. "…Just things like 'I want to talk to you' at first. Then they started getting a bit strange, I guess, but I didn't really think much of it…"</p><p>Bill pauses. When she doesn't go on, he sighs and pulls away from her to catch her eye. His proximity makes her breath catch just so, but she's not sure if he hears because he's saying, "You know I'm not going to judge you, Jos. What did they say? This is important."</p><p>He watches her purse her lips. She mumbles, "Well, one of them mentioned that I lived on the fourth floor of the Leaky Cauldron. I thought you were trying to make me move back in with you. Then – the one I received this morning said 'tonight, 9 o'clock, or I'm coming to you', and I just thought you were getting, um…impatient about how we haven't actually spoken about…"</p><p>"About what we're going to do about the fact that we're in love with each other?" he calmly finishes, and almost smiles when her cheeks blaze darkly.</p><p>Josie clears her throat and stares at the collar of his shirt. "…Yeah, that," she mutters.</p><p>This time, he does smile. When she sees it, Josie shoves him back with an embarrassed glower and says, "Don't laugh at me, William Weasley!"</p><p>He does laugh, though, and after a moment, Josie finds herself joining in. It is a bit ridiculous, after all. She can at least admit that much. She can also admit that her heart is near to bursting out of her chest when the force of her shove pushes Bill onto the couch, and he pulls her with him. They end up laughing together for several moments before they realize that she's basically lying on top of him on the couch, but Bill, always so laidback, merely says, "Come here, then."</p><p>He doesn't say anything about the way she blushes even more as she lets him pull her against him. If he can hear the fast beat of her heart against his chest, well, it's just as fast as his.</p><p>"Okay, let's talk about the notes again," he says, guiding the conversation back to calmer water. She's grateful for it, despite her own embarrassment for assuming that he was the one writing her those notes.</p><p>"Right," she murmurs, deciding that he is really rather comfortable, and after the frightening evening she's just had, she doesn't think she'd rather be anywhere else.</p><p>Bill continues combing his fingers through her hair as he stares up at the ceiling and muses, "Do you still have them, or did you throw them away? Because we could potentially use them in court against her – "</p><p>"In court?" Josie repeats, lifting herself up to stare down at him. "You mean I should take legal action against her?"</p><p>Bill turns his head to look at her. A serious light blazes through his eyes. "She was basically stalking you, Josie. She attacked you. Plus if we can figure out who she used the Imperius curse on, if she actually did use it that is, then that means a lifetime sentence in Azkaban."</p><p>At the word 'stalking', Josie frowns, and thinks of the hooded figure that she had seen watching her outside of the Leaky Cauldron. She thought that she had just been hallucinating, but what if that had been Catalina, trying to scare her into coming back to see her about the curse?</p><p>"…What is it?" Bill asks quietly, lifting his hand to touch her cheek.</p><p>His light touch brings her back. She looks at him and, still frowning, says, "It's just that – I thought I was just making it up in my mind, you know? – but I think Catalina really <em>was</em> stalking me."</p><p>She fills him in on the hooded figure. After she does, Bill's expression is so fierce that his eyes are gleaming brightly at her with both worry and anger.</p><p>"You should have told me this before," he tells her. "I'd never have let you stay in that room if I'd known."</p><p>"Bill, I thought I was going crazy," she whispers. "I thought the curse was making me see things that weren't there – "</p><p>"You're <em>not</em> crazy," he cuts in. "That witch used you." He raises a hand to push it through his hair, frowning deeply. "I know someone who can probably help, actually. She's in the Order. I'll ask her if she's at the next meeting."</p><p>Josie sighs and mumbles, "Catalina might've used me, but I was the one who fell for it. I'm such an idiot. The curse wasn't even placed on the gold – "</p><p>"Josie."</p><p>"Bill," she mumbles. "I've been pining after you since <em>fifth year.</em> I just couldn't <em>stop."</em></p><p>He reaches up to cup her face and turn it towards him. "I'm glad you didn't," he whispers to her. "Besides, if anyone here is an idiot, it's me for thinking that you're just my friend."</p><p>Josie is going to respond, but she can't really find the words. The reason for this is because when Bill had turned her head, neither of them had realized how close this would make them – how it would erase the distance between them so thoroughly, and how impossible it is to think about anything but, well…</p><p>"Can I kiss you?" he breathes, and gingerly tucks a strand of hair behind her ear.</p><p>No, Josie can't respond. Her heart is beating too fast, her breath is too shallow. Words escape her.</p><p>Fingertips caress her jaw, so lightly that his touch is barely felt at all, yet the force alone seems to guide her forward. She hardly even realizes that she's leaning in. Her eyes are transfixed on his, half-lidded and tempestuous, swept up in the way he looks intently back at her.</p><p>If she's being honest, she's been waiting for Bill to kiss her for a very long time now. She's thought about what it might be like, if he ever did. The madness behind it; the impatience driving through it. But this is not anything like that. This is completely different, and it's nothing like what she could have ever dreamed up.</p><p>This kiss is so soft that it's hardly there. It's so tender, so quiet, that she nearly mistakes it for a caress. His mouth barely moves beneath hers at all; he turns his head and kisses her, but it is brief and slow and it ends much too soon.</p><p>"…Josie," he whispers, "do you need more time?"</p><p>Does she? Did she ever?</p><p>Her response is to draw her fingers over his cheek and pull his face towards hers again. He breathes out when she slants her mouth against his, and this time their kiss isn't a caress. No, she would not describe it like that at all.</p><p>Why did she ever need time? She can't recall. She thinks she must have been crazy after all, because kissing him is probably the best thing she's ever done. She lowers herself against him and sighs out when his hand rests upon her waist. He does nothing but lay it there against her, but it still makes her heart rattle through her chest. His fingers seem to sear right through the fabric of her shirt. She kisses him harder, and tangles her own into the collar of his, wrinkling the fabric where she grips it.</p><p>She's not sure how many minutes go by, but as Bill is tangling his fingers in her hair and pulling her closer to deepen the kiss, time apparently runs out. Perhaps it's because Josie is so thoroughly distracted with the way Bill is kissing her, but she doesn't even hear the burst of flames in the fireplace until a voice is suddenly saying, "Forge, I think I might vomit."</p><p>And then, just as Josie is gasping in a breath and lifting her eyes, another voice snickers, "I second that, Gred."</p><p>Suddenly feeling incredibly horrified, Josie pushes herself off of Bill and sits up, her cheeks quickly turning a bright red. The twins take one look at her, then one look at the rather smug way their brother is casually laying there, not half as horrified as Josie, before they burst into laughter. Josie grabs the nearest pillow and throws it at them, but it doesn't do much good.</p><p>"What are you two doing here?" she demands, trying not to look at Bill. It requires a lot of fortitude; even from the corner of her eye, he is incredibly attractive – and not at all concerned that his brothers had just witnessed their kiss, for that matter. Bill merely turns his head to look at the twins and doesn't even bother sitting up.</p><p>Fred and George are still snickering as they explain, "We were sent – "</p><p>"To check up on you, dear brother – "</p><p>"Because mum was concerned after you left the meeting so quickly."</p><p>Then, glancing at each other, they snicker even more, and Fred (or George?) says, "'Course, we didn't expect to see <em>you</em> here, Josie."</p><p>"Yeah," George adds, "mum'll be <em>very</em> happy when we tell her you were rolling on top of Bill trying to eat his face."</p><p>Josie's mouth drops open in horror. Even Bill looks a bit horrified at that last bit, because he finally sits up. "Oi! Don't you dare tell her anything," he demands, and reaches for the pillow he was just laying on. He throws it at them too, but like before, it only makes them snicker all the harder.</p><p>"Our silence comes at a price, I'm afraid," Fred declares with an evil smile.</p><p>George nods. "A steep price, I might add."</p><p>Bill sighs at them, and throws an arm over the back of the couch behind Josie's shoulders. "What do you want?" he asks, sounding resigned.</p><p>Josie's mouth drops open even further. "You can't be serious!" she exclaims. Then, turning to Fred and George, she growls, "If you tell your mother anything about what you just saw, I will feed you to the gnomes."</p><p>Fred's eyebrows lift. George sends her a doubtful look. Beside her, Bill leans back and watches in amusement.</p><p>"Are you <em>embarrassed</em> about our mum knowing you were trying to suck Bill's face off?" George wonders.</p><p>"Yeah, she'll be over the moon when she finds out that Bill finally took his head out of his arse," Fred adds.</p><p>Bill sighs at them again and says, "Look, it's actually good that you two are here because I've got a job for you."</p><p>Josie raises an eyebrow at him. So do the twins.</p><p>"We're going back to Josie's room at the Leaky Cauldron to bring her stuff back here," he declares, and then stands up and reaches out a hand to drag Josie up, too.</p><p>Fred and George, not knowing what had actually happened to Josie, start nudging each other. "This is moving quite fast," one of them says, waggling his eyebrows.</p><p>"Who knew Bill was such a scoundrel," the other adds.</p><p>"Should we bring her things into <em>your</em> room, then, Bill?"</p><p>"Or do you want to pretend that she's actually staying in the guest room?"</p><p>"Either way," Fred starts.</p><p>"We're telling mum that you two are canoodling in the same bed," George finishes.</p><p>Josie glares at them. Bill purses his mouth, though he doesn't look angry as much as amused. In fact, he seems like he's seconds away from laughing, which is really not in his best interest because Josie soon turns her glare to him, next.</p><p>With a cough, Bill says, "You've both got this all wrong. Josie was <em>attacked</em>. And no matter <em>how</em> much she wants to suck my face off, she is staying in the guest room."</p><p>He dodges the kick that Josie sends at him. She sighs and rubs her forehead. Weasleys. They're brutal sometimes.</p><p>Mention of an attack does make the twins settle down, though. After briefly filling them in, they seem quite adamant about helping collect Josie's belongings. Josie isn't entirely sure she wants to go back there so soon after the situation with Catalina, but she does really want to get her wand back. This is enough motivation for her to trudge after them as they all exit the flat. Fred and George apparate first, with Bill and Josie following. Without her wand, she has to side-apparate, which is never a very fun experience and always makes her a bit nauseous.</p><p>What makes her even more nauseous, though, is the state of her room when they all walk up the stairs to the fourth floor. The contents of her drawers have been overturned onto the floor. Clothing is strewn everywhere, obviously tossed about from Catalina's vengeful search. Her mattress has been thrown off the bedframe and is laying on the other side of the room, blankets tossed to the floor without care. Her pillow has been completely torn into, oozing stuffing. Her suitcase is emptied of all the items she hadn't had the space to unpack. It is, in short, a complete and utter mess.</p><p>They all stare in shock for a long moment before Fred and George look at each other and immediately begin righting things, heaving the mattress back onto the bed and tossing the blankets in a pile on top of that. While they kick the stuffing from the pillow out of the way and begin shoving things into Josie's suitcase, Bill kneels down to grab Josie's wand, which had rolled under the frame of the bed. He hands it back to her without a word.</p><p>Josie pockets it, looking a bit ill. Bill reaches over to take her hand and murmur, "We're going to take care of this, okay? Let's just get your things for now."</p><p>She takes a deep breath and nods to him, but her hands are shaking somewhat as she helps the twins stuff her clothing into her suitcase. Bill goes about collecting all her other things – the clock on the dresser, picture frames, knickknacks – and they begin the process of taking trips back to Bill's flat to unload everything. That there is no sign of the Incan coins means that Catalina had found them, which Josie has mixed feelings about. It doesn't entirely matter, since they weren't needed to break her curse after all, but the fact that Catalina had gotten what she was after leaves a bitter feeling in her stomach.</p><p>It doesn't take very long to move her things to Bill's flat. Since most of Josie's belongings hadn't been able to fit in the small room to begin with, many of her things were still in the suitcase she had left them in. Catalina had gone through it, of course, so it takes some time to stuff everything back inside, but it only takes two trips to get everything back to Bill's place. Then they lock up the room and hand the key back to Tom (who looks rather relieved to take it, by the by), before they all apparate back.</p><p>The twins are very helpful despite their frequent teasing. Every now and again, they pause to make a joke about Josie and Bill. ("Who knew it only took a curse to make Bill realize he was pathetically in love with you, right?" and "We could've cursed you <em>ages</em> ago, Josie. There was no need to go all the way to some moldy temple in Peru.") By the time midnight rolls around, all of her things are in the spare bedroom and the twins are taking their leave.</p><p>"If you help us convince mum to stop trying to make us move back to the Burrow, we won't say anything," Fred says as he takes the bowl of floo powder on top of the mantle.</p><p>"Yeah, but she'll find out anyway, since you're both shite at keeping secrets," George shrugs, and throws the powder into the fireplace.</p><p>As they disappear, Josie groans and marches off to the kitchen to make some tea. Bill trails after her, looking a bit lost now that the twins are gone. Josie feels that way too. As she taps the kettle with her wand to boil the water, she feels quite a few things, actually.</p><p>"So," Bill says, leaning against the counter beside her.</p><p>She pushes her hair behind her ear and murmurs, "…So."</p><p>They both fall silent for a long moment, staring at the tea brewing in the two cups Josie had prepared. An awkward silence begins to pucker at the spaces between them. Bill looks like he wants to say something, but he doesn't, and Josie merely waits for the tea to be finished that way she'll at least have something to do instead of just standing next to him, trying not to think about how desperately she wants him to kiss her again.</p><p>Merin.</p><p>"Should we, um…sit down?" Bill asks, running a hand through his hair as Josie throws out the tea bags. He has an unfortunate lack of proper loose-leaf tea in his cabinet – something she'll definitely have to rectify if she'll be staying here. No peppermint, though. She thinks she might have to swear off of that for a while.</p><p>"Right," Josie says, bringing their cups of tea back to the couch. "We should probably talk about what to do about Catalina."</p><p>Bill, looking a bit lost again, sits down on the couch and reaches for his tea. "I was actually thinking that we should talk about the fact that we just kissed."</p><p>A blush captures Josie's cheeks. She's not sure if it's because of Bill's straightforward approach or if it's merely due to the way he loops an arm over the back of the couch behind her head. Or – perhaps it's because the sight of her awkward expression makes him chuckle.</p><p>"Right, ground rules then," Josie quickly says, trying and failing to press her blush down. She's scrabbling for something to say, now, and after a moment of this, just takes a large sip of tea instead and nearly scorches her tongue.</p><p>As she splutters around it, Bill pauses and repeats, "Ground rules? What kind of ground rules?" He sounds a bit confused.</p><p>She rolls her eyes at him. "If I'm going to be living with you, William, we'll need ground rules," she says, as if this ought to be obvious.</p><p>It's not, apparently.</p><p>"But if we're together, who cares? You're staying in your room anyway," he shrugs.</p><p>Feeling a bit frustrated now, Josie sighs, "Yes, but we <em>aren't</em> together, are we."</p><p>He turns to look at her. "Yes we are."</p><p>She narrows her eyes at him. "No we're not."</p><p>Bill sends her a grin, puts his tea down, and turns to face her fully. "Josie, let me say this in a way that you'll understand – " he catches her elbow before it can collide with his stomach and continues, "I want to kiss you again. Preferably soon. I think it's safe to say that you want to kiss me too. Based on the fact that we both want this, I think that means we're together now."</p><p>Josie, who had promptly begun to blush again the moment he said that he wants to kiss her, coughs, "Yes, but don't you think it's too soon? You only <em>just</em> called the wedding."</p><p>Bill reaches for her hand and tangles their fingers together, shrugging, "That's true, which is why we don't have to tell anyone <em>else</em> that we're together."</p><p>She sends him a look. "Fred just said that your mum will find out. Knowing the twins, they've already told her."</p><p>He doesn't seem overly concerned with this. "My mum loves you," is his only argument.</p><p>She sighs at him. "I just think we should take this slow, Bill."</p><p>He studies her for a long moment before nodding, "Alright. We'll take it slow. What are your ground rules, then?"</p><p>Now that he's asking, though, Josie doesn't entirely know. She opens her mouth to respond, then closes it again. After repeating this several times, Bill chuckles once more and suggests, "How about we just see what happens?"</p><p>She's blushing again when she mumbles, "…Fine."</p><p>She's frankly too tired to argue. It's after midnight now, and after the trying day she's had, she's ready to get some sleep. Still, she doesn't want to leave the couch. Or Bill. Especially when he's so warm and comfortable and makes her feel so safe.</p><p>They talk about Catalina for a while. Bill mentions again that he knows someone in the Order who might be able to assist, though Josie is too tired to ask <em>how</em> this person could help. They'll talk about it tomorrow, he tells her when he sees her eyes drooping, and suggests that they go to bed. They both have work in the morning, after all.</p><p>"Goodnight, Jos," he murmurs to her after they put their empty teacups by the sink. He lingers nearby, but doesn't reach out to her. After a slightly awkward moment spent staring at each other hesitantly, she tentatively steps in and encircles her arms around him with a quiet, "Night, Bill." And when he breathes out and gathers her close for several long moments, it's both fairly apparent that neither of them wants to leave.</p><p>They do, though. Josie sends him a small smile and pulls away, and Bill watches her close herself into the spare bedroom before heading off to his own room. She pulls on a pair of pajama bottoms and an old tee and gets into bed. Tomorrow, she'll sort everything out and put her things away, but she's far too tired to do it right now.</p><p>At least, she thought she was. The moment she closes her eyes, all she sees is Catalina's wide, kohl-lined eyes scorching into hers – her fingers wrapping around her neck and squeezing, repeatedly hissing, <em>'Tell me, tell me.'</em></p><p>She tosses and turns for what feels like ages before she turns the light back on and gets up, wide awake, to root around her suitcase for the paperwork she'd brought home with her. If she can't sleep, then she might as well be productive. There's no way she's going to Bill's room, especially after she'd just told him she wants to take things slow.</p><p>With a sigh, Josie begins to dive into her work. She sets up her ink bottle on the nightstand and stacks her pillows against the headboard. It isn't an ideal setup, but it works well enough. Besides, it gives her enough of a distraction. Before long, she's stopped thinking about Catalina entirely. At around two in the morning, though, her work is interrupted.</p><p>"…Josie? Why're you still up?" Bill's sleepy voice wonders from her door.</p><p>The surprise of his sudden appearance has her jumping in shock. She nearly spills her ink all over her nightstand as she jerks her head up to the door, where Bill is standing with an adorably bleary expression painted over his face. He's holding a glass of water as he leans against the threshold of the room, studying her.</p><p>"Oh, I – I just couldn't sleep," she hurriedly responds, pushing her hair out of her eyes with a grimacing smile.</p><p>Bill leans his head against the threshold and hums, "Want some company, then?"</p><p>One look at his eyes tells her that he knows exactly why she can't sleep. His gaze is gleaming with understanding. She feels a bit embarrassed because of it. After all, she's a grown woman. She should be able to deal with her nightmares better. Still, the thought of his presence is too tempting to pass up. She moves over to give him space, and Bill sends her a quiet smile as he steps into the room to join her.</p><p>"What're you working on?" he murmurs as he pulls her into him and sleepily shuffles into her side.</p><p>Josie can't quite stop the smile from overtaking her as he does. She doubts that he realizes just how adorable he really is, when he's half asleep. His words are perfectly bleary, pitched with an alluring depth that scrapes over the low octaves of his voice. His hair is mussed up and untidy, fanned over his shoulders for once instead of tied back in its usual style. One look at him is all it takes, really, for Josie to toss her paperwork to the side and snuggle into him with a content sigh.</p><p>"…Nothing, now," she murmurs.</p><p>Bill presses a smile against her temple and whispers, "You're safe here, you know."</p><p>She circles are arm around his waist and hums, "I know Billy…"</p><p>And she does.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0019"><h2>19. Never Trust the Daily Prophet</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>To all those who read Vivicendium and do not want spoilers for Season 3, you should probably skip this chapter entirely. But really I know none of you are actually going to do that so why am I bothering? I hope you all enjoy :)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  <strong>Chapter Nineteen | Never Trust the Daily Prophet</strong>
</p><p>The realization that Bill truly is in love with her hits Josie hard over the next week. Considering how long she's kept her feelings to herself, it's been a bit of a shock that she no longer has to, but she's finally beginning to come to terms with the notion. So is Bill. The looks he sends her throughout the day is enough to make her heart beat at an almost exclusively fast pace. In the lift, when he quietly touches her waist and leans over to make a remark about Janice from floor two's eccentric hairstyle, she is breathless with the desire to curl her arm around his waist and drag him against her. In the break room, when he presses brief kisses to her cheek before mournfully pulling away to go back to his office, she forgets that she's supposed to be making tea and that this is a public space where they could be interrupted at any moment. Working with Bill is a blessing and a curse, mainly because the knowledge that he is only a short walk away is a continuous distraction for her – and one that she occasionally finds herself taking advantage of.</p><p>"Bill? I need you to sign some of these papers for me. They're just to finalize the documents from the Kon case," she announces as she pushes his door open and steps inside. He's sitting at his desk, quill in hand, but when he sees her, he puts it down and stands up.</p><p>Perhaps Josie should expect the way he immediately steps around his desk and pulls her into him, jostling the file she's holding as he reaches up to cup her face and kisses her. The few times she's seen him in the hallways today, the heated looks he's sent her have only grown warmer and more tempestuous. She isn't expecting it, though, not entirely, and so when it happens, she pulls away to gasp, "I left the door open – "</p><p>"Who cares?" he mumbles, turning his attention to her neck and beginning to kiss his way over it.</p><p>A shiver captures her quite suddenly at his move. Josie's response is quite a bit more breathless when she admits, <em>"I</em> care."</p><p>Bill pulls back. Though she wasn't expecting his sudden kiss, Josie is most certainly expecting the way he crosses his office in three long strides, pushes the door shut, and turns back to her with those eyes that are always making her shiver these days, whenever she sees them turned towards her.</p><p>"Bill," she laughs, a bit amused and, admittedly, rather flattered at the singular direction his thoughts are clearly moving in. "I really <em>do</em> need you to sign these. This wasn't an excuse to come see you."</p><p>Not entirely, anyway, but she doesn't tell him that. He pauses, strides back to where she's standing, and glances at the file in her hands.</p><p>"Really?" he wonders, snaking an arm around her waist. "Because you keep giving me these looks, Josie, and to be honest it's making me very unproductive."</p><p>Josie's mouth tilts up into a smirk. "Oh? Unproductive?" she repeats, sounding breezier than she feels. His confession has her heart near to jumping out of her chest.</p><p>Bill hums, "Wright even told me off, you know. Apparently, I was staring into space during the meeting this morning."</p><p>Her heart does a jittery flip.</p><p>"…And what were you thinking about, when you were supposed to be paying attention to Robert Wright?" she wonders. This time, her voice is slightly less breezy, and Bill notices.</p><p>She can see him grin out of the corner of her eye, though Josie is busy pretending to look through the file she's holding, reorganizing papers that are already perfectly organized. When his other arm hooks around her waist too, though, she finds him a bit more difficult to ignore.</p><p>He shuffles closer as if he means to kiss her again, but Josie quickly shoves the file against his chest and hurriedly says, "Sign the papers, Bill," before he can well and truly distract her.</p><p>Bill sighs, shaking his head at her. "Fine," he grumbles, and unhooks his arms to catch the file before it can fall. He steps back to his desk and sits down, reaching for his quill as if nothing had happened at all. He seems to be trying to maintain his laidback mood, though Josie isn't blind the way he glances over at her as he opens the file.</p><p>She clears her throat to hide a laugh, though Bill can hear it in the edge of her voice. He sends her a look that makes her break out into snickers, and dips his quill into his inkwell to sign his name to the first paper. As he does, Josie edges around his desk and leans against it, as if she's making sure that he's signing the correct pages. He seems to know what she's really doing, though.</p><p>"Stop trying to distract me," he tells her, even as an amused smile lifts the edges of his mouth.</p><p>Josie sends him an innocent look. "I'm not sure what you mean," she responds, then leans over him to flip to the next page and murmurs, "This one, too." She points to the empty line that requires his signature and casually curls her fingers into the hair at the base of his neck.</p><p>Bill, who had frozen upon her sudden proximity, now clears his throat and quickly signs his name. The moment his quill lifts off the parchment, he swivels around in his chair and sends her an appraising look, which Josie grins at.</p><p>"Something wrong?" she wonders.</p><p>Bill sends her a very warm look and growls, "No. Not at all."</p><p>She hums. "Are you sure? You look a little – oh!" she gasps, mainly because Bill had interrupted her by reaching forward, grabbing her waist, and hauling her into his lap. She tumbles against him, quickly losing her balance and only barely managing to regain it as she grabs the armrest of his chair. Her heart is hammering fast and hard in her chest when she finishes her train of thought with a breathless, "…flushed."</p><p>Bill sends her an almost lazy smile. He thinks he rather likes the look of her right now. Her attempts at being coy had been utterly breathtaking, but if he's being honest, he much prefers the blushing way she's currently regarding him. Yes, he thinks she looks rather perfect, with her eyes quilted over with banked yearning as she worries at her lower lip. She looks like she's trying to decide if it would be very bad to snog him senseless during work hours.</p><p>She is wondering <em>exactly</em> that, but after a moment's contemplation, she merely huffs out a laugh and tells him, "I know I've been saying this for years, but you'll be the death of me, Bill."</p><p>Bill sends her an amused grin and murmurs, <em>"I'll</em> be the death of <em>you?</em> Do you have any idea what you're putting me through right now?"</p><p>He watches her blush grow a touch warmer, and chuckles.</p><p>"…Right," she coughs, and tries to stand up.</p><p>She would've succeeded, had Bill not slipped his arms around her hips and dragged her back against him, looking rather insistent as he leans forward and, against her lips, whispers, "I didn't tell you to stop, Josie."</p><p>She melts into him and sighs, "Merlin, Bill. You really <em>will</em> be the death of me…" but doesn't complain when his mouth converges upon hers and his arm circles around her back to hold her in place. No, she doesn't complain, nor does she try to stop him. Instead, she shifts her hand up his chest, brushes her fingers over the side of his neck, and kisses him back with an exuberance that has him inhaling sharply in the wake of it.</p><p>"I did…actually…have another reason…for coming to…see you," Josie murmurs into the kiss, her voice perfectly breathless and delightfully muffled.</p><p>Bill hums against her mouth and smirks. "Oh? So this was your plan all along. Throw me into my chair and distract me from my work – "</p><p>"William, if anyone is throwing people into chairs, it's you," she laughs, and much to his disappointment, pulls away.</p><p>He releases a frustrated sigh and drops his head back. Josie snickers, looking rather proud of having such an effect on him. Honestly, he stands behind what he'd said before: <em>she'll</em> be the death of <em>him,</em> not the other way around.</p><p>"What was your other reason, then?" he asks once he's gotten control of his breathing. She's definitely making things a bit difficult for him, what with the way she's running her fingers over his jaw and hovering close by – just close enough so that if he were to turn his head, their lips would be only a hair's breadth apart…</p><p>She catches his eye and, smiling as if she's at least somewhat aware of his situation, says, "You mum owled me this morning and told me that there's an Order meeting tonight."</p><p>This effectively ruins the mood. Bill sighs at her.</p><p>"Josie," he begins, but doesn't get to finish.</p><p>"I'm going," she tells him, raising an eyebrow in challenge.</p><p>He sighs again. Over the last week, Josie hasn't brought up the Order very much. She's merely informed him point-blank that she will be joining and hasn't bothered getting into any sort of arguments about it. Bill had been rather hoping that she'd forget about the imminent Order meeting and hadn't anticipated that the rest of his family would get involved, but he can't claim to be very surprised. He's also not surprised that Josie is so adamant about being a part of this. Still, he has no intention of trying to stop her. He knows Josie. Trying to stop her would only incite her that much more.</p><p>"…I was going to tell you about the meeting myself," he grumbles at her. "There was no need to ask my mum." Josie raises an eyebrow at him as if she doubts his words. He sighs at her and points out, "It would've been hard to leave the flat without you guessing where I was going."</p><p>She stares at him for a moment before conceding, "That's true enough." Then she trails off, because she isn't entirely sure what to say. So instead, she sighs and leans in to kiss his mouth, and he sighs too and kisses her back.</p><p>"We should probably get back to work," he murmurs to her, running his fingers through her hair.</p><p>Josie nods, though it takes her several more seconds to actually stand up. Bill sends her an amused look at her obvious reluctance, which she grins at as she turns to gather the papers Bill had signed for her.</p><p>"See you later?" she says, catching his eye with a grin still blazing over her face.</p><p>Bill laughs and leans forward, resting his elbows on his desk.</p><p>"Later," he promises, and doesn't look away until she closes the door and vanishes from sight. It's only after the door closes and he's alone again that Bill rubs his forehead and mumbles, "…She really will be the death of me…" as he pulls his work back towards him and picks up his quill once more.</p><hr/><p>Josie isn't entirely sure what she expects from this Order meeting. She knew there would be some amount of secrecy to it, but she's a bit unprepared for the sheer amount of said secrecy. Bill won't even tell her where he's taking her; they apparate to a nondescript little alleyway somewhere in muggle London, of all places. It definitely doesn't seem like a location where multiple wizards will be meeting to plan the downfall of You-Know-Who.</p><p>Josie is rightfully confused when they appear in the alley with a loud crack. The sound sends a stray cat screeching out of a dustbin near the other end of the alley, which is dark with the coming of night, and she nearly jumps into Bill's arms in shock. Bill has the decency to try not to look amused by her reaction, and merely puts a hand on her back as he leads her towards the road.</p><p>"This way," he murmurs to her, glancing surreptitiously about the street. There are a few muggles some ways away, walking past one of the houses further down, so Bill waits until they disappear around the corner before he leads Josie onward. She doesn't immediately notice the oddity of there being no Number 12 until Bill shoves a small scrap of parchment into her hands, and she realizes what's going on.</p><p>A Fidelius charm. They covered them in Charms in seventh year, but she's never seen one in action before. After scanning the address, Josie looks back up at the buildings. The moment she does, a house begins to appear between Numbers 11 and 13. She watches curiously as the other houses seem to be shoved to the side, though none of their occupants appear to notice anything. It's dark enough to see into the sitting room of Number 13, but the muggles just keep watching the tele.</p><p>Once the house has fully materialized, Bill reaches over the pluck the parchment from her grasp. The next moment, he is tapping his wand to it and the whole thing is going up in flames. He drops it onto the cobblestone street and watches to make sure that it has completely burnt away before pocketing his wand and turning to face her.</p><p>"We've been lucky so far," he murmurs. "No one's caught on that we're using this place. It's probably the safest house in England. There're so many wards around it, it's near to impossible to get inside. Unplottable, too."</p><p>He casts one last glance around the street to make sure they aren't being watched before guiding Josie towards the door. As she ascends the front steps, he adds, "It's not the nicest place, mind you – but never mind all that. Keep quiet once you get inside. No loud noises. And don't be alarmed at all the Dark objects, Sirius is still working on getting rid of them – oh right, you should probably know that this house belongs to – "</p><p>"You're joking," Josie hisses, looking over at Bill upon his mention of Sirius Black. Surely Black isn't <em>here,</em> in the heart of <em>London</em>. He's got a ten thousand galleon price on his head for Merlin's sake. He ought to be on the other side of the world.</p><p>Bill, though, just pushes her towards the door, evidently not wanting to remain outside any longer lest anyone notices them. He reaches out to tap his wand against the door. The next moment, the muffled sound of about a dozen locks can be heard through the door, and then he's grasping the doorknob and pulling it open. Before Josie has quite prepared herself to meet the infamous mass murderer (despite his apparent innocence, which she had only just discovered), she is being pushed inside. She glances back at Bill as he steps in after her and closes the door, shrouding them in a dismal gloom that has Josie pulling her leather jacket tighter around her form. This is certainly not what she had expected, when she heard that the Order of the Phoenix would be meeting tonight.</p><p>There is a formidable, dark energy to this place which is impossible to ignore. Josie looks around in a tentative manner, shoving her hands into the pockets of her leather jacket and curling her fingers around her wand. The hairs on the back of her neck stand up as she catches sight of a wall of beheaded house-elves, whose heads hang upon plaques by a set of stairs that disappear into the gloom above. A long, narrow corridor stretches from the front door further into the house. Several other doors can be seen along it, but each of them is closed, lending a certain unwelcoming atmosphere to the already gloomy place. The house smells of misuse and mold despite it seeming relatively clean, which makes Josie wonder if it's been lived in at all until – well, until Sirius Black had returned to it. If this house does indeed belong to him, then it isn't as if he could have tended to it while he was locked up in Azkaban…</p><p>"I can't believe – " Josie starts to say, her voice set in a normal tone. Before she can speak any further, though, Bill shushes her sharply, and she shoots him a confused and slightly affronted look.</p><p>"I told you, no loud noises," he whispers.</p><p>Josie pauses before continuing in a quieter hiss, "I can't believe you didn't tell me that you lot were meeting in <em>Sirius Black's</em> house!"</p><p>Bill had of course told her Black's story, and Josie trusts Bill explicitly. She believes what he had said about Sirius Black being innocent of the crimes of which he was sentenced for, but it's still quite unnerving to think that she is about to meet the man himself. She's spent her entire life assuming that Black really is the heartless killer that the Ministry believes him to be. It's natural to be a little bit hesitant about changing your perspective of someone so rapidly.</p><p>Bill takes Josie's arm and turns her to face him. "The country still thinks Black is a murderer, Jos, and it's very possible that the Order members are being watched. We can't just hand out his name like that. It could ruin everything we'd done so far – "</p><p>"But you could've told <em>me,"</em> she whispers.</p><p>He sends her a grimacing look and murmurs, "Josie…"</p><p>She sighs. "Yes, I know, I get it," she grumbles, but reaches up to pat his chest. "I'm just surprised is all…and a bit nervous," she admits in a quieter voice.</p><p>Bill sends her an understanding look and slips an arm around her waist. "Despite his reputation, Sirius is a good guy," he tells her in an undertone. "I've got a feeling you'll get on quite well, actually."</p><p>Josie raises an eyebrow at him and he shrugs.</p><p>"You'll see what I mean soon enough," he murmurs to her, and opens his mouth to whisper something else. Before he can, though, a creaking noise sounds above them, and Josie turns her head to the stairs. A woman is coming down them, and she looks vaguely familiar.</p><p>She is tall and willowy, dressed in what appears to be a rather expensive set of robes that are dark enough to blend in with the shadows of the stairwell. In fact, had her coming not been preceded by the creak of the stairs, Josie doubts she would have noticed her at all. Her steps are quiet, silent almost, and her dark features seems like shadows all to themselves. She possesses dark eyes that hold a piercing quality to them. They are altogether quite beautiful, but Josie thinks that the source of the beauty is the sharp awareness that gleams through them, as if she strives to know all, and is usually successful at it.</p><p>At Josie's side, Bill sends the woman a polite nod. It isn't returned, because the woman is too busy gazing down at Josie with appraising eyes, taking in Josie's very muggle appearance in a manner that seems almost judgmental.</p><p>"…Ah…Josie, this is Vivian Blair. Vivian, this is my – er – friend Josie," Bill says, sounding a touch awkward, especially when Vivian moves her eyes to the arm he's got wrapped around Josie's waist.</p><p>An elegant eyebrow lifts up. She stares at them in a sort of discerning way, but there is now a touch of dry amusement in her eyes, which still look judgmental enough to make Josie uncomfortable.</p><p>"A pleasure," Vivian drawls, but doesn't extend her hand.</p><p>Josie isn't one to be intimidated by others, but even she has to admit that being on the receiving end of Vivian Blair's stare is rather disconcerting. Perhaps it is because she seems so immaculately dressed. She gives off the appearance of a very well-bred woman from the highest circles of society, and she doesn't seem to fit into the gloom of this house very well at all.</p><p>After a very long moment which Josie spends trying not to shuffle on her feet, Vivian's mouth curls up into a pleased smile and she says in a slightly warmer voice, "The meeting has already started. You just missed Walburga's screaming, Bill."</p><p>Bill cringes a bit and glances at Josie to quietly explain, "Walburga was Sirius's mum. She's got a portrait on the landing upstairs."</p><p>Vivian hums dryly. "Dreadful woman. She isn't very pleased that her house is being used as headquarters. Best not to go near her, Josie. If she sees you, she'll start in with her muggle prejudices."</p><p>Then, after one last glance at them, Vivian Blair sweeps past them, down the corridor with the many closed doors. Josie glances over at Bill before he gestures for her to follow.</p><p>"…Muggle prejudices?" Josie repeats in a whisper. She sends Bill a confused glance.</p><p>He frowns. "The Blacks were a notoriously pureblood family. They hated anything to do with the muggle world." Then, nodding after the door at the end of the corridor, which Vivian is now pulling open, he adds, "Let's go, I'll explain more later."</p><p>They walk down the corridor, which is so narrow that is gives Josie a distinctly claustrophobic feeling. The walls seem to close in on her as she walks. She keeps her eyes trained to the door at the end, which is partly opened. Now that she's getting closer to it, she can hear the quiet murmur of voices beyond the threshold, including the familiar sound of Arthur's voice.</p><p>" – know something is amiss. The Minister says – "</p><p>"Who cares what the Minister says? He's about to be officially sacked anyway. Scrimgeour's practically moved into his office already."</p><p>"Politics aside, it doesn't change the fact that – Bill! Josie! Come in, take a seat…" Arthur says, catching sight of them lingering at the door. He stands up from the long table that many witches and wizards are sitting at. After a moment's contemplation, he waves his wand and conjures two more wooden chairs at the end of the table, near a large fire.</p><p>Josie glances around, meeting several pairs of eyes, which turn to peer at her curiously as she enters what looks like a kitchen. There are dark wooden cabinets set into the walls, and countertops behind the table, spanning the length of the far wall. The table contains several fat pillar candles, which cast light upon the occupants of it. Several half-empty mugs of butterbeer are strewn around the table. A copy of that morning's Daily Prophet is laying open and ignored, evidently having been put down upon the start of the meeting. The headline says, <strong>Fudge Steps Down, Replaced by Scrimgeour. </strong>Several other, smaller articles are listed on the side, with their respective page numbers. Most of them seem to be about the latest news regarding You-Know-Whos return, but there are a few that are unrelated.</p><p>
  <strong>Dumbledore Reinstated as Hogwarts Headmaster, p. 3</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Sirius Black Supposedly Seen in Norway, p. 4</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Donahue Disgraced, Quidditch Injury Uncovers the Truth, p.6</strong>
</p><p>Josie sees some familiar faces besides the Fred and George, though she hasn't met any of them. She recognizes Mad-Eye Moody and Kingsley Shacklebolt, who are often in the news, and sees Minerva McGonagall sitting primly beside Molly, who sends Josie a warm smile in greeting. The other face she recognizes is not one she's expecting, but he is here nonetheless: Professor Snape, who sits a bit removed from the others with his chair backed just so away from the table, half-immersed in the shadows of the corner he is inhabiting. Josie glances his way, but doesn't linger for too long on his sharp black eyes. Besides these, there is only one other person she recognizes from the papers, and this time Josie can't help but eye him curiously as she sits down in the chair that Arthur had conjured for her.</p><p>Sirius Black is sitting across the table from her, and he is most certainly not what she's expecting. He looks nothing like the photos of him in the Daily Prophet, where he is portrayed using the mug shot that had been taken fifteen years ago. He is lounging in his chair as if he is bored, with his arms crossed over his chest. There is no insane edge to his eyes, and he is not unshaven or unkempt. In fact, and Josie is a bit embarrassed to admit this, Sirius Black is positively <em>handsome</em>.</p><p>Vivian Blair has taken a seat beside him. Josie finds it slightly amusing to see that Vivian also looks somewhat bored, but perhaps it is merely a pureblood thing – a sort of expression that one falls back upon in moments such as these. Regardless, Josie can't help but notice the way Vivian glances over at him with a strange light in her eye. The next moment, Sirius is moving his arm, and though it's impossible to see, Josie suspects that he has taken Vivian's hand and has pulled it into his beneath the table. She tries not to look surprised by this, but isn't sure she succeeds because Vivian casts her a knowing glance a moment later, the corner of her mouth edging up into an amused smirk.</p><p>As brief introductions are made, Josie's attention drifts away from Black, but she still keeps half an eye on him even as she turns to meet several of the other Order members. As she greets a woman named Nymphadora Tonks, who Josie vaguely remembers from Hogwarts, she can't help but notice the way Sirius Black is eyeing her, looking rather curious.</p><p>"Josie works at Gringotts too," Bill explains after everyone is introduced. "She's also a curse-breaker."</p><p>Mad-Eye grunts. "Then you know your curses, I expect. Good. And how's your defensive capabilities - ?"</p><p>"Not <em>now,</em> Alastor," Molly interrupts. "You can interrogate Josie after the meeting is concluded. We don't have much time."</p><p>Mad-Eye grunts again but seems to agree, and allows Kingsley Shacklebolt to take the floor as he begins to explain the current goings-on within the Ministry, where he is employed as an Auror. A good portion of the meeting seems to be centered around the atmosphere of the Ministry now that Cornelius Fudge can no longer deny that You-Know-Who has returned, having seen him with his own eyes. Bill doesn't seem to have much to contribute, though Moody does ask him if anything has changed at Gringotts since the last meeting.</p><p>"The goblins don't even seem to care that You-Know-Who is back," he informs them. "Though I reckon they're just bidding their time, waiting to see what happens. I'll continue keeping an eye on them."</p><p>Mad-Eye grumbles something about goblin loyalties as the meeting changes course to what seems like a mission currently being planned.</p><p>"Heard anything in your circles, Blair?" Mad-Eye asks. He seems to be something of the leader, at least when Dumbledore isn't here. Josie is a bit curious as to why the Headmaster hasn't made an appearance at this meeting, since he's apparently the one who had organized the Order of the Phoenix to begin with, but she doesn't want to interrupt the flow of the meeting by leaning over and asking Bill. She'll just have to save her questions for later.</p><p>At the head of the table, Vivian shrugs lazily and responds, "Nothing new. Your plans to scout out the Avery residence seem solid. I was told that the entire family is vacationing in France, but there's no way they've left the country with the Dark Lord on the loose. You can be sure that it's only a cover-up. I'd be careful when you go in."</p><p>Mad-Eye grunts again and mutters, "Yes, I'm sure Avery wouldn't leave the country right now. The bastard's probably cooped up in his mansion, awaiting orders…"</p><p>In the shadowy corner, Severus Snape coldly drawls, "Avery is still in the country. I've seen him myself. He's sent his wife and son to France for the summer. Your information is a bit outdated, Blair."</p><p>Vivian turns cold eyes to him. Beside her, Sirius stiffens slightly in his chair, his mouth curling up in dislike. Before any sharp words can leave Sirius's mouth, though, Vivian says, "There will be a charity ball at the Malfoy estate next Friday evening. It would be the ideal night to stage the mission."</p><p>Moody nods and looks at Vivian. His magical eye spins around in its socket, seemingly look over at Snape.</p><p>"And I take it that you are also on the guest list," Moody growls in his usual gravelly tone. When Vivian gives a graceful nod, he mutters, "Good. You can keep an eye on him, let us know if he leaves earlier than planned…"</p><p>Vivian nods again. Beside her, Sirius frowns, but remains silent.</p><p>The rest of the meeting mainly goes over the Order's apparent plans to infiltrate the Avery manor, which Bill tells her in a whisper has become something of a standard mission for them – scouting pureblood families and attempting to get enough evidence of their involvement in the Dark Arts to put them away for good, that is. Theodore Avery had gotten off without punishment after You-Know-Who's initial defeat fifteen years ago, having claimed to be acting under the influence of the Imperius curse. The Order knows better, of course; they have apparently already infiltrated the Malfoy estate, looking for proof of Lucius Malfoy's dealings with You-Know-Who. They will be doing the same with the Averys, though Mad-Eye doesn't seem convinced that they'll find anything useful.</p><p>"The bastards know how to hide their loyalties," he grumbles as the meeting draws to a conclusion.</p><p>Before everyone takes their leave, though, they turn to eye Josie, who straightens up in her chair as the attention is moved to her.</p><p>"You'll work alongside Bill, then," Moody informs her gruffly as the blueprints for the Avery manor are rolled back up. "For now, keep an eye on those goblins. We'll inform you when we need you for a mission."</p><p>On the other side of the table, Tonks (as she's insisted upon being called) cheerfully adds, "Mad-Eye'll probably put you on probation for a couple of weeks, just to make sure you're not a traitor to the cause."</p><p>Josie raises an eyebrow at this, but Moody just grumbles, "It's standard procedure – "</p><p>"Yes, yes, constant vigilance and all that," Tonks cuts in with a smirk. Moody narrows his non-magical eye aton her but doesn't bother replying.</p><p>After that, many of the others stand. Snape is the first to sweep from the room, casting one unimpressed glower at Josie before he disappears beyond the door. No one looks particularly sad at his abrupt parting; in fact, the look on Sirius's face makes it clear that he's quite happy to be rid of him. Minerva and Tonks leave soon after, despite Molly's invitation that they stay for dinner. They both have duties to return to.</p><p>It seems as though this is standard procedure as well; dinner, that is. Molly begins to bustle about the kitchen, helped soon after by Arthur, who is tasked to head into the pantry to get some potatoes. Fred and George, who had been mainly silent for the meeting itself, crowd around Josie and Bill before Molly orders them to collect plates.</p><p>"Who's staying for dinner, then?" Molly loudly asks over the din of voices, which had risen up in wake of the meeting's end.</p><p>A stocky, unkempt man wearing an overcoat in desperate need of washing promptly declares, "Love to, Molly," and then proceeds to turn to Sirius to ask, "Any more 'o that Ogden's left, Sirius?"</p><p>Josie glances over curiously to hear Sirius's answer, which is a drawled, "You finished it last week, Dung," as he stretches out his legs and leans back in his chair. As several other Order members inform Molly that they'll be staying for dinner, Sirius lifts his eyes to Josie's, evidently having felt her gaze on him.</p><p>Josie is a bit embarrassed about being caught staring, but before her embarrassment can be made known, Sirius raises an eyebrow at her and says, "Nice shirt. Devonport, right?"</p><p>For a moment, Josie has no idea what he's talking about, then she remembers that she's wearing a Quiet Riot t-shirt under her leather jacket, and it's her turn to raise an eyebrow.</p><p>"Uh…yeah," she responds.</p><p>Before Sirius can say anything else, though, Vivian stands up and announces, "I should get back to my estate, Molly. I've got a few things to do tonight."</p><p>Her words capture Sirius's attention fully, and he turns away from Josie to quickly stand up as well. Before he can say anything, however, Bill cuts in with a brief, "Vivian, I was actually hoping I could talk to you before you leave…" He glances over at Josie, who sits up a bit straighter.</p><p>Vivian pauses in the midst of turning and raises an eyebrow at Bill. She doesn't respond, but her eyes are questioning as she waits for an explanation. Sirius glances at them too, also quietly wondering.</p><p>"Maybe we could speak in the drawing room," Bill suggests.</p><p>Vivian, still obviously confused, just nods and gestures to the kitchen door. Bill glances again at Josie, who takes the hint and stands up. Not knowing where the drawing room is, though, she lets Bill take the lead. Vivian follows after the pair. A moment later, Sirius follows as well, looking a bit like a lost puppy. It rather counteracts his reputation of being a mass-murderer, which would have amused Josie greatly if she wasn't so confused about his apparent preoccupation with Vivian Blair – and the reason as to why Bill wants to talk to her, for that matter. She figures that Vivian must be the person Bill had been referring to when he'd said that someone in the Order could potentially help them with Catalina, but as Josie has no knowledge of what exactly Vivian does, she's is a bit in the dark.</p><p>The four of them step into one of the rooms off the side of the narrow corridor and quietly shut the door behind them. This room isn't quite as gloomy. A fire is blazing quietly in the hearth, which is surrounded by armchairs and a low sofa. The décor does leave much to be desired, though: everything is outfitted in dark green and silver tones. If Josie had stepped into this room a year ago, she would have been completely taken aback at the Dark objects lingering on its shelves and tables, and the thick dust layering every surface. As it is now, though, the place is relatively clean and many of the Dark objects have been removed.</p><p>"What did you wish to speak to me about?" Vivian asks as she takes a seat on the sofa. Sirius lingers nearby, laying a hand upon the back of it. Vivian shoots him a look that he just raises an eyebrow at, but she doesn't call him out for hovering.</p><p>Bill and Josie take a seat too, in two of the armchairs, and launch into the story about Catalina. Bill does most of the talking at first, until the conversation requires the finer details, of which Josie supplies. Vivian listens quietly throughout the explanation, until they reach the part about Catalina attacking Josie in her room at the Leaky Cauldron.</p><p>"So you no longer have the Incan coins, then?" Vivian wonders.</p><p>Josie shakes her head. "They weren't in the room when we all went back to get my things."</p><p>"Hmm," Vivian murmurs. "If we can find them in Catalina's possession, there are spells to find out if they were stolen, which would further incriminate her. And you said she's been giving you Moondrops? Anything to do with the illegal drug market tends to capture the Ministry's attention. I can help you create a case against her and bring it to court, but in the meantime, I recommend that you write to that Peruvian curse-breaker you were speaking of and have him send you the letters you posted to him about your curse. They might be useful evidence."</p><p>"We'll do that, then," Bill nods, glancing over at Josie. She smiles feebly back.</p><p>After several more minutes spent listening to Vivian's advice regarding how to go about requesting a trial, the woman stands up and says, "I really should be going, but keep me updated."</p><p>Bill and Josie thank her, but as she's turning to leave, Sirius's hand shoots out to take her arm and stop her. Vivian sighs and turns to face him, murmuring something beneath her voice that Josie can't hear. Sirius murmurs something back to her. His tone seems impatient, upset even. A moment later, the two of them are both sweeping from the room, Sirius on her heels as he follows her to the front door.</p><p>Josie turns to send Bill a glance, but he merely tells her, "Later," and gets up to return to the kitchen. They arrive just in time to witness the twins using magic to slide plates along the surface of the table, which skid to a stop in front of each person who is staying for dinner. Moody's nearly crashes to the floor, saved only by a quick flick of his wrist as he catches it. A fork would have skewered Mundungus in the forehead had he not ducked out of the way.</p><p>"FOR THE LAST TIME, YOU DON'T NEED MAGIC TO PASS OUT THE SILVERWARE!" Molly screeches at them as Mundungus reaches over to grab the sterling silver fork that had nearly taken his eye out and pockets it.</p><p>Sirius returns to the kitchen several minutes later, looking a bit moodier than he had been when he followed Vivian. He sullenly reclaims his seat, but Josie doesn't look at him this time. His mood seems quite awful and she isn't sure she wants to engage him in a conversation at the moment. It's just as well, because Moody turns to her just as Bill is passing out a few butterbeers, and grunts, "Weasley's told us a bit about you already. I hear you work in South America mostly. Incan curses?"</p><p>Josie nods, and Moody begins a very thorough interrogation of the work she does, the sorts of curses she's uncovered, how she'll be useful to the Order, and such things. His questions fill the kitchen as Molly whips up a simple dinner, and by the time they all sit down to eat, Josie's voice is starting to grow hoarse.</p><p>"That's enough, Moody," Bill says, sounding a touch amused. "You don't want to scare her off before she even starts, do you?"</p><p>Fred, who sits down on Josie's left, snickers, "Aw, listen to this, George. Bill's looking after Josephine. How sweet."</p><p>George snickers too – until Bill passes their chairs and shoves their heads down in retribution.</p><p>"Oi!" George exclaims.</p><p>"How rude!" Fred says.</p><p>"We'd better warn Sirius about them," Fred mutters to his twin, though his voice is loud enough to make it obvious that he wants everyone to hear him. "He should lock all the bedroom doors in case they try to roll around on each other again – "</p><p>This time, it's Josie who retaliates, with a hard kick at Fred's leg and a muttered, "I could still show you that organ-shriveling curse if you want, Fred."</p><p>Fred merely sniffs, "I'm not Fred, I'm George."</p><p>Josie glowers at him. "I don't care <em>who</em> you are, I'm still tempted to shrivel up your organs."</p><p>At the head of the table, Sirius barks out a laugh, looking a bit less sullen than he had a moment before.</p><hr/><p>Josie considers the Order meeting to be a success. The others seem to welcome her with open arms, and by the time dinner is finished and Bill stands up to say a brief goodbye to his parents and the twins, Josie is actually wishing that she could stay a little bit longer. The main reason for this is Sirius Black.</p><p>He is definitely not what Josie had been expecting. Sirius is far from the supposed murderer that she had thought him to be for most of her life. She wouldn't necessarily describe him as kindhearted, but he has a sense of humor that Josie finds herself appreciating. They end up getting into a conversation about Josie's work, which leads into her now-broken curse, and then somehow, they end up talking about muggle rock bands, of which Josie happens to be very knowledgeable. Apparently, so is Sirius.</p><p>"You met Roger Waters?" Josie exclaims, her eyes widening. "You're joking."</p><p>Sirius shrugs, "Sure, I mean, Pink Floyd was already a big name by the time I started listening to them, but they'd play at a lot of local venues around London."</p><p>"I'm so jealous," Josie gushes.</p><p>Sirius grins at her. The smile uplifts something in his face and makes him look much younger.</p><p>"Josie, we should head back," Bill calls to her, and she sighs.</p><p>"You're better get going," Sirius says, though he looks a bit morose once more as his kitchen begins to empty. He claps a hand on her shoulder and nods, "We'll have to continue our conversation at the next meeting."</p><p>She sighs again, but one look at Bill reminds her that she still has a lot of questions to ask him, and the thought of spending the remainder of the evening in his flat is too tempting. Sirius must see the look in her eyes, because he smirks and nudges her forward, nodding to Bill before turning to help Molly with the rest of the dishes. As Josie and Bill walk back into the narrow corridor, she hears him say something about how he'll handle the rest.</p><p>Josie opens her mouth to speak, but Bill puts a finger to his lips and points up to the landing at the top of the stairs, reminding her to be quiet for now. She grudgingly closes her mouth and doesn't talk until they step outside onto the darkened street.</p><p>"That went well," Bill murmurs, closing the door of Number 12 Grimmauld Place behind him. The moment they both walk down the steps and onto the cobblestone street, the entire house disappears before their eyes, vanishing as if it had never existed at all. He turns to smile at Josie and guides her back to the alley, saying, "See? I knew you'd hit it off with Sirius. You're both obsessed with those muggle bands. He was eyeing your leather jacket too. I've got good taste."</p><p>Josie laughs at this and sends him a fond smile, reaching over to tug at his long hair as he curls an arm around her and prepares for apparition. "You've got <em>great</em> taste, Billy," she says, amusement coloring her voice.</p><p>Bill chuckles, holds her firmly, and turns on his heel. They stumble into the void of apparition before reappearing with a loud crack in Diagon Alley, but Josie keeps an arm tucked into his elbow even as they head inside the building where he lives. Once they step into his flat, Bill heads into the kitchen to make some tea. Josie follows, questions brimming in her eyes.</p><p>"So," she begins, taking a seat at the counter. "After Moody decides he can trust me, will I be going out on missions too?"</p><p>Bill glances over at her and shrugs, "Probably. I'll try to make sure we're together, though, at least for your first few…" He trails off with a slight frown, looking worried again.</p><p>Josie shakes her head at him. "Bill, honestly. You don't have to worry about me so much."</p><p>"I can't help it. You <em>are</em> a bit reckless," he reminds her.</p><p>She rolls her eyes. "Not nearly as reckless as <em>you</em> are," she reminds him right back.</p><p>Bill concedes this point after a brief pause to consider it, and then chuckles and pours the boiling water into their cups. He sits down next to her as they wait for the tea to brew and asks, "I'm sure you've got other questions?"</p><p>Josie nods. "Right. How does the Ministry not realize that Sirius is right under their noses? And also, why hasn't he been acquitted of his supposed crimes yet?"</p><p>Bill shrugs and slowly responds, "Fudge is a bit of an idiot, if you haven't noticed. But there have been a few close calls. He's lucky he hasn't been caught yet. And as for his acquittal, Moody thinks it's only a matter of time. Now that You-Know-Who has publicly returned, Peter Pettigrew is bound to be seen out and about. It's a delicate situation though. If Sirius tries to go to court to prove his innocence, it's likely that he'll just be shipped back off to Azkaban. Everyone still believes he's guilty."</p><p>"So it all comes down to the right timing," Josie muses.</p><p>Bill nods. "I suppose so."</p><p>"Hmm. For a man who spent 12 years in Azkaban, he's quite handsome," she suddenly informs him, and smirks when Bill turns to send her an unimpressed look.</p><p>"Well don't go spouting off about his good looks around Vivian," he dryly tells her.</p><p>Josie's expression clears into understanding. "I <em>knew</em> there was something between them. He kept sending her those looks men sometimes get when they're pathetically in love with someone – "</p><p>"Pathetically in love?" Bill repeats, sending her a weird look.</p><p>Josie waves him off. "Yes, you get them too, Bill. Anyway though – "</p><p>"I do not!"</p><p>Josie laughs at him and drawls, "Yes you do. Back when you were with Fleur, you'd…er, well maybe we shouldn't talk about that." She trails off awkwardly, and turns back to her tea.</p><p>A brief silence falls between them before Bill turns her chair to face his and quietly murmurs, "I love you, Josie."</p><p>The corner of his mouth edges up when she blushes.</p><p>"…I know," she responds.</p><p>He pulls her hands into his lap. "Look, I know things have moved a bit fast between us, but Josie, what I feel for you is nothing like what I felt for Fleur."</p><p>She clears her throat and says, "You don't have to explain this, Bill – "</p><p>"No, I think I do need to," he cuts in gently. "I want to make sure you understand. I liked Fleur, and I fancied myself in love with her, but it really doesn't hold a candle to what I feel when I'm around you, Josie. I was just too much of an idiot to realize it sooner."</p><p>At this, she laughs a bit, and murmurs, "…I love you too, Bill."</p><p>They exchange stupid grins and she laughs again.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0020"><h2>20. Never Forget the Sexy Peruvian</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>The moment you've all been waiting for, the return of my favorite OC in the history of OCs...drum roll please...I only wish I could make Ricardo move to England permanently so that he can make it his life's purpose to annoy Bill, but alas, he does have a life in Peru you know.  And if anyone is wondering, yes I did plan this out from the very beginning of this story, because I figured Ricardo needed another sexy Peruvian in his life to even out the balance ;)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Chapter Twenty | Never Forget the Sexy Peruvian</strong>
</p><p>The next few weeks passes with a swiftness that Josie is unprepared for. It seems that June slips right through her fingers, and July is no different. A great many events occur to mark this passage of time, the main one being her newfound relationship with Bill. To say that she has grown accustomed to his presence wouldn't be a lie, because they have had years to get to know each other in ways that even two intimate souls would have trouble doing.</p><p>Their friendship has already uncovered the many quirks and anecdotes of their personalities, but now it uncovers other slivers of character that Josie would have otherwise remained blind to. Such as the fact that Bill erupts into shivers whenever she kisses his neck, and the fact that Josie has a bit of a preoccupation with mussing his hair up wherever and whenever possible, and the notion that living together as friends is very different compared to living together as more than friends. In some ways, at least.</p><p>The other event that marks time's passage is this: Catalina has disappeared, and it seems to be quite impossible to locate her. The day after their discussion with Vivian and the legal advice she had supplied to them, Josie had sent a letter to Ricardo, asking him to send back all the correspondences she had owled him about the curse. Vivian had mentioned that it would be useful evidence, if only to prove that Josie had been unaware of the true nature of the curse. She said it may help to incriminate Catalina if they had written proof of Josie's own uncertainty; that it would give insight into the fact that Catalina had taken advantage of her for her own purposes. Upon owling Ricardo to ask for the letters (hoping, of course, that he even still had them to begin with), Bill had been able to take the matter up with the Auror office, of which he has connections through the Order. Kingsley had ordered that Catalina's shop be searched and the woman herself be brought in for questioning. It hadn't been as difficult as Josie had imagined it would be; many shops along Knockturn Alley have been raided in recent weeks, in hopes of purging the area of Death Eater sympathizers. Even the smallest hint of supposed supporters of You-Know-Who have been brought in. Scrimgeour isn't taking anything lightly, and is approaching the situation from a far more serious angle than his predecessor.</p><p>The problem is that, when the Aurors had raided <em>Tesoros del Viejo Mundo, </em>Catalina was nowhere to be found. Despite it being mere days after her attack on Josie, the witch seems to have vanished completely, and had taken most of her things with her. The shop had been emptied of all valuables, and only dusty shelves remained. The Aurors hadn't been able to do much after that. With only Josie's word that Catalina had attacked her and no further evidence to incriminate the witch, the search had been called off in favor of more important things. Josie had been quite upset to hear this, but she hadn't been able to do much about it either. With war on the horizon, the Ministry has its hands full, and doesn't have the resources to track down one witch, no matter the fact that she had stolen the Incan coins.</p><p>With nothing left to do but wait for Ricardo to owl her back and attempt to track Catalina down herself (which, so far, has been dismally unsuccessful), Josie has tried to turn her attentions elsewhere. Her 'probation' had come to an end and Moody has been putting her on joint missions with Bill and a few others. Some nights, Josie is so exhausted that she doesn't even think about Catalina, and on the nights that she does, Bill is rather good at distracting her from her worries.</p><p>"Kingsley is trying to track her down in his spare time," he tells her, though doesn't mention how very little spare time Kingsley Shacklebolt has, these days. He's been stationed by the muggle Prime Minister for protection, and doesn't have very much time at all.</p><p>Josie appreciates his attempts nonetheless, though. She feels quite safe with Bill regardless of her worries that Catalina will come back. Her newfound relationship with him is a breath of fresh air as the world darkens around her, changing to accommodate the return of You-Know-Who. Bill's presence in her life makes everything better, despite the fact that they've been so busy with the Order and their Gringotts work that they haven't had much time to be an actual couple. The world is changing and it is isn't an ideal time to start a relationship. In a lot of ways, it hardly even feels like they're in a relationship at all.</p><p>"Ready to go?" Bill wonders as he appears in the door of her office. It's just after five o'clock and Gringotts is emptying itself of its employees.</p><p>Josie glances up at him and smiles. "Just let me grab a few files…" she murmurs, perusing through several cases that she's in the midst of working on.</p><p>Before she can collect them, though, Bill steps over to desk and says, "Oh no, you are <em>not</em> spending the weekend doing work, Josephine Devonport." He grasps her hand and drags it away from the pile of cases she's trying to sort through.</p><p>She frowns at him. "But Bill, I wanted to get a head start on – "</p><p>"We're going to spend the next two days enjoying our free time, not being workaholics," he tells her firmly, and then proceeds to drag the rest of her away from her desk and the teetering case files piled up atop its surface. When he sees the sulking way she regards him, he laughs, "If I didn't know any better, I'd be a bit insulted that you'd rather research temples than spend time with me."</p><p>Judging from the way his eyes are glimmering with amusement, though, it's clear that he isn't really insulted. That's the good thing about their many years of friendship. Bill gets her in a way no one else does. She still makes a point of rolling her eyes at him, though.</p><p>"You know that's not true," she mumbles, casting a mournful glance at her stack of paperwork before it disappears from view.</p><p>Bill pushes her out of her office and shuts the door behind them with a fond shake of his head. "I thought we could go out this weekend. We haven't exactly been on a proper date yet, you know?"</p><p>The reason for this, of course, is twofold. Trying to hunt down Catalina and their Order work often takes up any free time they would otherwise have, and then there's the issue of not having anywhere to go to begin with. Most of the shops up and down Diagon Alley have either closed down entirely or are struggling to stay open and have changed up their hours as a result. The pubs are still open, of course, but many restaurants have shut down. This is in part due to the fact that no one is going out unless absolutely necessary, and also because the owners are afraid that staying open might only draw attention to them. Ollivander's has been closed for weeks now, the man in question mysteriously vanished. Florean Fortesque has also disappeared. No one wants the same thing to happen to them.</p><p>"A date?" Josie repeats, and can't quite help herself from smiling giddily as they walk to the lift. "Not many places to go, is there?"</p><p>Bill shrugs and pushes the button for the ground floor. "I was thinking the Three Broomsticks. It's not exactly the nicest place for a date, but at least Hogsmeade is relatively safe."</p><p>Josie laughs, "And Rosmerta would supply us with a couple free butterbeers."</p><p>The reminder makes Bill chuckle and joke, "Which is the main reason, naturally."</p><p>They share amused smiles as the lift descends with a rickety jolt. As the doors reopen on the ground floor, Bill suddenly says, "Oh, hold up a moment, Jos. Mum asked me to get some money out of Harry's vault for him."</p><p>Josie hums in understanding. The lines at Gringotts have been outrageous lately. Last she looked, it was taking hours for the general public to get their gold. This is partially because the goblins have been increasing their security, but also because there are so many people wanting to make withdrawals. Considering the general atmosphere of the country, people want to make sure they've got enough money to survive for long stretches of time without having to move out into the open. If Harry were to come here himself, it'd probably take him the whole day.</p><p>"I'll wait in the lobby," Josie says as they step off the lift. It won't take Bill nearly as long to make a withdrawal; one of the benefits of being employed at Gringotts means that the workers have priority over the public. Bill nods at her and makes his way towards the counter, where a goblin named Vragrok is sitting. Josie steps off to the side while Bill makes his request. As the pair of them disappear through one of the doors that leads to the lower vaults, Josie wonders what sort of date Bill and her would have gone on if they had more options, and mourns the fact that they'd gotten together at such an inopportune time. Still, despite this, she's not about to complain. Their relationship is a bit unconventional what with the fact that they're already living together, but perhaps it would've been unconventional anyway. They have been best friends for years, after all.</p><p>About ten minutes go by with no sign of Bill. He's surely arrived at the vault by now and is most likely on his way back. The vaults beneath Gringotts span for miles underground and the return trip always takes longer than the descent. The goblins have set this up purposefully in order to catch potential thieves. The complicated network of tunnels exists to trap anyone who is unauthorized to travel them, and those lucky enough to reach ones of the vaults and actually break into it will discover that it is near impossible to find their way back to the surface again.</p><p>Josie waits by the doors of the bank, leaning against one of the large marble pillars. Behind her, the goblins continue their work, completely ignoring her presence. They will remain here for several hours still, for they do not follow the same schedule as their human counterparts and still have their own work to do before their day is finished. The sound of clinking coins and quills scratching against parchment fills the lobby. Low, murmured voices scatter the space every now and again, but the goblins mostly work in silence.</p><p>Had Josie not been waiting near the large doors, she would not have seen what she sees in that moment, as she leans against the pillar and waits for Bill's return. The doors of Gringotts are made of a thick, enchanted wood. There are no windows that look into the lobby save for the two that are stationed on either side of the door. The goblins take their security quite seriously; the windows have been charmed with a one-way spell. This ensures that no one from outside of the bank can look into the lobby, but those who are inside the bank may look out into Diagon Alley. The pillar Josie is leaning against aligns with one of the windows, and she would have entirely missed the sight of the hooded figure lingering outside of Gringotts had she not been facing it. As it is, though, she does see it, and promptly straightens up when the figure ascends the white stone stairs beyond the doors of the bank.</p><p>The goblins don't appear to notice. Even if they weren't so focused on their work, they would have been hard pressed to see the figure against the darkness outside, but Josie is close enough to the window. She sees the figure step up to the other side of it and lean forward as if to peer into the lobby of the bank. And even though she knows that the figure couldn't possibly be able to see the goings-on within, she still feels the back of her neck prickle with apprehension and forgets, for a split second, that the windows are charmed.</p><p>What is Catalina doing here? Has she come to check to see whether Josie is still cursed? Or whether Josie had told anyone about Catalina's attack on her?</p><p>She watches the figure turn its hooded head as if trying to see through the glass; to find an angle in which the one-way charm has worn off. The entire situation lasts only moments before the figure pulls away and disappears beyond the edge of the window, but it feels like a lifetime. Josie's heart is ricocheting through her chest. She hears the beat of it rush into her ears, and the electric shock of adrenaline courses through her veins, filling her with two opposing desires: to move away from the window and further into the bank while she waits for Bill, and to throw herself into Diagon Alley and deal with this once and for all.</p><p>Josie glances over her shoulder at the door that Bill and Vragrok had disappeared through. There is still no sign of his return. If she waits for him, then Catalina could well and truly disappear, slithering back into the shadows and vanishing again without a trace. This is her chance to put an end to this. If she catches Catalina now, then she'll no longer be looking over her shoulder, worrying about whether the witch might come back and silence her…</p><p>Gryffindor courage is a beautifully reckless thing. Within seconds, Josie is drawing her wand and throwing open the door of the bank.</p><p>Diagon Alley is empty. Many of the shops, which would normally have remained open for several hours yet, have closed their doors for the day. The only lights to be seen are the flickering lampposts that shine through the darkness on the side of the cobblestone street. It's eerie in a way Josie hasn't yet experienced, because her and Bill have taken to flooing back to his flat almost exclusively these days. It's been some time since they had apparated or walked home from work; the dangers of being outside after dark outweigh these more pleasant modes of travel.</p><p>Josie walks to the edge of the stairs and looks down into the alley, hoping to catch sight of the figure. Catalina seems to have disappeared though; there is no sign of anyone lingering in the street, even as she scans it. After several long moments, she wonders if she ought to return to the lobby after all – until she turns her head and sees the flutter of a robe disappearing around the corner of a nearby alleyway.</p><p>Later on she will admit that the way she immediately runs down the steps of Gringotts in pursuit of Catalina is definitely reckless. But her mind is bent upon catching Catalina before she vanishes, because once she disappears, there's no telling if she'll return to Diagon Alley again.</p><p>Josie turns the corner into the alley cautiously, holding her wand out. The darkness is too thick and she can't see more than a few feet, so she summons a lumos charm to light her way. The beam illuminates the entire narrow alley, just in time to see the fluttering robes disappear around the next corner. Josie hurries to catch up, gritting her teeth when she turns down another narrow alley that leads around the back of one of the shops. Having never bothered to explore the streets beyond the main road, she's at a bit of a loss for where Catalina is going, and does wonder if she's being led somewhere specific. But, still overcome with the desire to put an end to this once and for all, Josie ignores the warnings that blare through her mind and continues on.</p><p>Let it not be said that Josie Devonport is not a true and proper Gryffindor. Anyone else might not possess within their character such brash determination. Twice more she turns onto alleyways which become narrower and less traveled than the ones which precede it, until it almost feels as though she has stepped into a maze of stone corridors, which vault up the side of buildings and disappear into the night sky above. The pitch darkness here is absolute; without her wand, she would be utterly blind.</p><p>In a way, she still is. When she rounds the next corner, she nearly trips over a dustbin full of broken wands and lopsided scales (presumably, she is behind the junk shop near the entrance to Knockturn Alley). In the act of running into it, the top of the dustbin is knocked to the ground and clatters noisily over the cobblestones. The sound makes her freeze for several moments before she shakes it off and keeps going, practically sprinting down the rest of the narrow alleyway in her attempt to catch Catalina before she well and truly disappears.</p><p>"Catalina!" she exclaims into the darkness. "I know you're there - !"</p><p>But then, before she can even finish her sentence, the hooded figure suddenly reappears around the corner from where it had just vanished. This time, it is moving quickly towards Josie instead of away from her, and the suddenness of this change makes Josie move hastily back and nearly trip over the dustbin all over again.</p><p>She points her wand at the figure, but before she can utter a spell to protect herself, a familiar wand is pointed at her, too, and the figure says in a masculine voice, <em>"Expulso!"</em></p><p>Josie throws herself to the side just as the spell hits the stone wall next to her and cracks into it. Shock seeps through her as she turns back to face the figure, but it isn't because of the spell itself; rather, she recognizes that voice.</p><p>She works with that voice.</p><p>Josie barely manages to summon a ward when a jinx is thrown her way, mere seconds after the first spell. The red light of it bounces off of the shield and scatters into the alley, ricocheting along the narrow walls until it flickers out. She keeps her ward steady, suddenly not sure if she ought to fight back. After all, she knows this person. He is a mentor to her.</p><p>Her decision is made for her, though, when the man facing her several paces away shouts, <em>"Relashio!" </em>And then, quite suddenly, just as the spell bounces off of her hastily summoned ward, another voice from behind her exclaims in a thick accent, <em>"Incarcerous!"</em> and the hooded figure is immediately bound by ropes, which he promptly trips over.</p><p>Josie turns on the spot to point her wand at the newcomer, only to stare in open-mouthed shock when she sees the familiar dark eyes peering back at her. The man runs a hand through his perfectly tousled hair, shoots her a sexy smirk, and drawls, "Ah, do not misunderstand, <em>querida</em> – rescuing damsels is always good for the alibi, but perhaps save it for daylight, yes?"</p><p>And Josie, utterly shocked, can only splutter, <em>"Ricardo?"</em></p><p>Ricardo smirks widely at her, but before any further words can be exchanged…</p><p>"What the <em>bloody hell</em> am I doing here?" Artie gruffly demands, and throws off his low hood, looking quite confused.</p><p>What indeed is Artemis Fincher doing in a dark alleyway behind Diagon Alley? Josie isn't entirely sure herself, so instead of answering the question, she turns to Ricardo.</p><p>"What are you doing here?" she asks, in much the same manner as Artie just had.</p><p>Ricardo lifts an eyebrow at her. His wand is still pointing at Artie. He looks a bit confused, himself.</p><p>"I have come to deliver the letters you asked for," he briefly explains. Then he nods to Artie with a conflicted, "Should I stun him, Josie?"</p><p>Artie doesn't seem to hear the question, or at least is unable to process it. He's struggling against the ropes, which tighten with every movement, and appears almost childish as he jerks about on the ground and mumbles beneath his breath. Josie casts a glance at him before responding, "No, release him, Ricardo."</p><p>Ricardo's eyebrow lifts higher. "The man just attacked you, <em>querida,"</em> he reminds her, and shoots her a quizzical look.</p><p>He's never met Artie before. He doesn't know that Josie works with him at Gringotts, or anything about the circumstances of said attack. Rubbing her forehead tiredly, Josie sighs, "I'll explain everything in – oh bloody hell! Bill must be worried sick!"</p><p>She's not sure how long it's been since she had begun following the hooded figure, but Bill is surely looking for her now, no doubt worried out of his mind.</p><p>"The English curse-breaker?" Ricardo murmurs as he flicks his wand at Artie. The ropes instantly loosen and fall away. He keeps one eye on Artie when he asks, "Has he come to his senses, then?"</p><p>Josie promptly turns to help Artie stand. He seems to need the help, because his movements are ungainly and bewildered. The moment he gets to his feet, he nearly falls over again, as if he has forgotten how to distribute his weight. This, coupled with the bleary way he blinks at Josie, as if he's trying to remember who she is, is a clear indication that his mind has been heavily tampered with. Josie's suspicions fall into place as she studies him. Catalina's words make all the more sense, as well.</p><p>
  <em>Do you really think I couldn't make someone do my bidding with the right spell?</em>
</p><p>Worrying her lower lip, she ignores Ricardo's question in favor of calmly saying, "Come on, Artie, let's get out of this alley, okay?"</p><p>Ricardo watches him cautiously as the pair walks past him. He catches Josie's eye and sends her another confused look, but she only murmurs that she'll explain everything in a short while, and so he just follows them several paces behind, keeping his wand at his side in case Artie attacks them again. But Artie doesn't do anything at all as Josie leads them through the maze of alleyways. It takes a fair bit longer than it had before, but Artie allows her to pull him along without struggle until they finally step out into the main street.</p><p>Gringotts looms up ahead, pale against the darkness. Josie pulls Artie towards it, sweeping her eyes over the marble steps as she searches for Bill. Is he still inside the bank, or has he left? The answer comes only moments later, when the familiar tones of his voice call her name, and she turns just in time to see him hurrying down the street.</p><p>"Josie, what the hell are you playing at?" he demands, sounding quite angry. His brows are pulled down and he's holding his wand as if expecting to be attacked any moment now. This is altogether a reasonable reaction, she supposes, considering the fact that she had told him she'd wait for him inside Gringotts, where it is safe and does not pose the threat of being attacked by Death Eaters.</p><p>"Bill – " she begins, only for him to cut her off with a sharp, "I've been looking all over for you. You said you'd wait inside – er, hi, Artie – "</p><p>Josie opens her mouth to explain, but he says, "You can't just go running off – wait<em>, Artie?</em> What're you doing here?"</p><p>Artie blinks at him in confusion, looking as if he'd very much like to know the answer to that, too. Before any such answers can be given, however, Bill's attention is drawn away when someone snorts behind Josie.</p><p>"He has not come to his senses at <em>all,</em> <em>querida.</em> In fact, I am beginning to wonder if he ever had any to begin with," Ricardo bloody Vasquez drawls, and Bill, well…</p><p>"<em>Ricardo?"</em> he splutters, evidently too surprised to remember that he usually refers to the man as 'that bloody Peruvian'.</p><p>Ricardo only lifts an eyebrow at him and smirks.</p><hr/><p>Bill suggests that they all head back to his flat, so after a few minutes spent apparating and dragging Artie up the three flights of stairs to where the flat is located on the third floor, the four of them sit down in the living room. Josie briefly explains how she had seen the hooded figure lingering outside of Gringotts and had gone after it, thinking it was Catalina. Ricardo pipes in to add that he had been on his way down Diagon Alley towards Gringotts, hoping to catch Josie before she had left for the day, and had seen her following the figure into the alleyway. Josie goes on to explain what had happened, how the figure had turned to attack her, and how Ricardo had arrived on the scene to assist. Bill listens closely when she explains how the hooded figure had been Artie all along, and how shocked she had been when she had made this realization.</p><p>"It's obvious that his mind has been tampered with," Bill notes, staring at Artie with a cautious expression. "Artie? Do you remember any of this?"</p><p>The question seems to go right over Artie's head, though. The man blinks over at Bill, mumbles, "Where am I?", and begins muttering beneath his breath as he looks around the room.</p><p>Bill purses his mouth and murmurs, "If his mind really has been messed with, then that would explain how Catalina's been sending you notes and spiking your tea. She probably used Artie to do it…"</p><p>Josie had reached this very same conclusion already, and exchanges a glance with Bill before reaching over to take Artie's hand, hoping that the action might draw his attention back to her. "Artie, why did you attack me tonight?" she slowly asks, trying to keep her voice calm so as to not spook him into silence.</p><p>Artie stares at her and whispers, "She told me to bring you to her."</p><p>This single sentence makes the rest of them fall silent, staring back at Artie carefully.</p><p>"Where did she want you to meet her?" Bill demands quietly. There is no question as to who 'she' is. Catalina is clearly behind this.</p><p>Artie jerks back and fearfully moans, "I can't say – "</p><p>"Artemis," Josie cuts in, "you're safe now. You can tell us."</p><p>Artie jerks again and mumbles, "She's one of <em>them</em>. You-Know-Who's supporter."</p><p>Upon hearing this, Bill straightens up and catches Josie's eye. They're both obviously thinking the same thing: that if Catalina can be located and tried, this information will be very helpful in putting her away for good. That Artie has been under the influence of an Imperius curse cast upon him by Catalina herself is very serious.</p><p>"What did she do to you?" Ricardo asks, speaking for the first time since his own brief explanation.</p><p>Artie cringes again and madly says, "She <em>made</em> me do it. The tea. She made me put Moondrops in it. I didn't want to!"</p><p>Bill and Josie have already figured as much, but Ricardo is quite surprised. He turns to Josie and incredulously repeats, "Moondrops? I thought you said you'd stop taking them – "</p><p>"I did stop taking them," Josie cuts in, "or at least I thought I did."</p><p>Bill, however, is a bit more focused on the other part of Artie's words. "She made you do it? How?" he asks, his voice low and solemn as he studies Artie's face.</p><p>Josie quickly turns to look at Artie, too, just in time for the man to breathe, "I think…I think she used the Imperius curse on me…" Then, falling back into silence, Artie furrows his brow in confusion and stares at a patch of rug, looking dazed. He does sound a bit more like himself, though, which is a very good sign. With a bit of treatment, hopefully he'll recover from this experience. Having one's mind tampered with is never good.</p><p>"…Use of the Imperius curse is really serious," Bill mutters, and falls into silence as he contemplates their disconcerting evening.</p><p>Meanwhile, Josie is thinking about the strange behavior she has recently witnessed from Artie. He always been a bit on the eccentric side anyway, so she hadn't thought much of it until now. "He <em>has</em> been acting very odd lately," she tells Bill with a frown.</p><p>Bill frowns back, then turns to Artie and says, "This is very important, Artie. You have to tell us where Catalina is. We need to alert the Auror office."</p><p>Artie moans again, looking fearful once more. "She told me not to tell – "</p><p>"You're no longer under her control," Josie says.</p><p>"But if you don't tell us where she is, she may come back," Bill adds, wanting to drill the seriousness of this into Artie's befuddled head.</p><p>Artie turns to stare at Bill, as if he's silently asking him if he thinks that Catalina <em>will</em> come back. Whatever he sees in Bill's eyes apparently answers this question, for he mumbles, "She's on the coast, waiting for an illegal portkey to take her to South America."</p><p>Another brief silence falls, before…</p><p>"Why did she want you to bring me to her if she's leaving the country?" Josie asks.</p><p>Artie rubs his eyes and mumbles, "I don't know. She wanted to take you with her. I don't know why. I don't know – "</p><p>As Artie starts in with his crazed mumbling again, Bill stands up and takes Josie's arm. He tugs her towards Ricardo, wanting to have a bit of privacy. Behind them, Artie's voice fills the room, repeating, 'I don't know', over and over again.</p><p>"Look, I think I ought to take him to St. Mungo's," Bill murmurs to them. "He needs proper treatment."</p><p>Despite being unfamiliar with St. Mungo's, Ricardo correctly guesses that this is a hospital, and quietly asks, "Do we have enough information to contact your Aurors?"</p><p>Bill nods, "I think so. I'll send a Patronus to Kingsley." He glances at Josie, then at Ricardo, and murmurs, "Stay here. Don't go outside. I'll be back within the hour."</p><p>Josie frowns though, and steps towards him to take his arm. "Bill, I don't like this. I don't think you should go – "</p><p>"I'll be fine," he softly cuts in. "We can't keep him here. He's a danger to himself right now, and there's no telling what lingering effects the Imperius curse could have on him…"</p><p>They all glance back at Artie, who is still mumbling nonsensically to himself as he runs his fingers through his hair again and again.</p><p>"…Be careful," Josie sighs, and steps forward to kiss Bill chastely on the mouth, very much aware that Ricardo is watching the action with a raised eyebrow. The Peruvian says nothing, though, as Bill leads Artie from the flat. Only when the door closes behind them does he turn to Josie and smirk widely.</p><p>"Well well well," he purrs. "Perhaps the English curse-breaker does have some sense after all…"</p><p>And Josie, still a bit taken aback by the fact that Ricardo is even here at all, laughs.</p><p>"Just wait until he gets back," Josie chuckles, opening her arms to hug him properly. As she's engulfed with Ricardo's warm, spicy scent, she adds, "I'm sure he'll lose it when he starts demanding why you decided to come all this way just to deliver those letters to me."</p><p>Ricardo chuckles too, and pats her head.</p><p>"I actually have business with your Ministry as well, but I think I'll just tell him that I wanted to make sure I didn't need to break his wand in half," Ricardo happily tells her, and snickers.</p><hr/><p>The next week flies by. With Kingsley's assistance, Aurors had been sent out to locate Catalina about an hour after Bill had brought Artie to St. Mungo's. A bit of questioning from Artie had ensured that they had a better idea as to where to find her, and after that, bringing her in had been fairly easy. Josie hears that Catalina had put up a fight, but she hadn't stood a chance against the group of highly-trained Aurors that had been sent after her. She has a feeling that Catalina's capture wouldn't have been a priority if it wasn't for Artie's involvement. The Ministry does not take the Imperius curse lightly.</p><p>Concerning Artie, news of his admittance into St. Mungo's for treatment of the Imperius curse spreads quickly through Gringotts. Everyone is concerned and wants to know exactly what had happened to him. Josie finds herself repeating the story so many times throughout the week that by the end of it, she's got it memorized. According to the Healer in charge of his treatment, he is already doing much better after only a few days. The memory spells he had suffered at the hands of Catalina had been short-term and will apparently have no lasting damage. With luck, he'll be right as rain in time for the trial.</p><p>True to Ricardo's word, he does indeed have business with the Ministry. He's been sent by the Peruvian Council to convene with them on updated policies with the new Minister of Magic, Scrimgeour. However, he also has several of the letters that Josie had sent him, which he thankfully hadn't yet thrown away. At this point, Artie's testimony in itself should be enough to incarcerate Catalina, but Josie supposes that every bit of evidence helps.</p><p>Ricardo stays in England for several days, which is a point of annoyance for Bill, who is constantly asking when he's going to be leaving. Josie finds it rather amusing. It's clear that the two men still don't see eye to eye. Still, Ricardo does indeed have business with the Ministry and has obtained lodgings elsewhere, so they don't actually see that much of him. Catalina's court date is set about two weeks away, and though Josie would have liked Ricardo to stay long enough to attend it, he must return to Peru within the week. Life goes back to normal, in some ways – though while Ricardo is still in England, normal isn't entirely possible.</p><p>Bill is most certainly not expecting to see Ricardo bloody Vasquez striding purposefully through the lobby of Gringotts when he arrives to work several days after Catalina's capture, but his reaction happens to be rather amusing to Ricardo himself, who purrs out a smirk when he follows Bill into the lift. At first, Bill seems to think he's imagining Ricardo's presence, because he just stares in confused surprise as several of his coworkers clamor onto the lift behind him. After all, Ricardo is supposed to have business with the Ministry, so why he has decided to enforce his presence here at England's wizarding bank is beyond him. It's quite unexpected, too. The sight of Ricardo pushing back his perfectly tousled hair and flirting his way across the lobby is frankly jarring.</p><p>"…Who is this?" Janice from floor two asks, eyeing Ricardo with great interest.</p><p>Ricardo, who by the by is very accustomed to being ogled by all kinds of humans, shifts his purring smile to her and innocently asks, "Me? I am – "</p><p>"He's a bloody Peruvian," Bill interrupts, now narrowing his eyes at him. "And <em>why</em> are you here?"</p><p>Janice, who looks rather confused that Bill appears to know said bloody Peruvian, raises her eyebrows in even greater interest. As for Ricardo, he merely puts a hand on his chest and dramatically sighs, "I should think it obvious, English curse-breaker. I am here to see my <em>querida</em>.<em>"</em></p><p>Trying to remain patient, Bill eyes Ricardo with eyes rife with suspicion. "Didn't you just <em>see</em> Josie? You went out to breakfast this morning, didn't you?"</p><p>That happens to be another annoyance for Bill, who had been barred from joining them by Ricardo himself. Something about wanting to catch up with Josie without the 'English curse-breaker's idiocy getting in the way'. As a result, Bill had eaten by himself for the first time since Josie had moved back into the flat, and for the record, he hadn't enjoyed it. As such, there is a hint of bitterness in Bill's voice when he asks this, which Ricardo naturally catches onto. He sends Bill a wide smirk just as the door of the lift opens onto the second floor where Janice works. Janice hesitates, clearly unwilling to leave. She is far too busy sniffing out potential gossip to actually head into work, and so it isn't until both Bill and Ricardo turn to look at her in confusion that she remembers she's holding them up.</p><p>"Oh – er, sorry," she hedges, inching towards the door. She catches Ricardo's eye and blurts out, "You can't be <em>Ricardo Vasquez?</em> You're a <em>legend</em> in the curse-breaking field. Are you here to see <em>Josie?</em> Are you two – " and then the doors swing shut before she can finish her question, not that it matters all that much.</p><p>Ricardo crosses his arms smugly and shoots Bill a pompous grin. As for Bill, he grits his teeth at him and mutters, "A <em>legend?</em> Really?" He's clearly not impressed with Janice's gushing.</p><p>Ricardo snickers, "Ah, fame. I suppose you'll get it <em>one</em> day, English curse-breaker, if you ever become as amazing as me, that is."</p><p>Bill snorts disparagingly.</p><p>As the lift shuttles them to the next floor, Ricardo glances at him and says, "So you have finally realized that you are desperately enchanted with Josie. I am glad that you've stopped being a blind idiot. Loyalty is underrated, in my opinion."</p><p>If anything, Bill finds this comment even more disparaging. He raises a sarcastic eyebrow at Ricardo and crosses his arms, too. "That is absolutely rich, coming from you."</p><p>Ricardo, sounding a touch offended, responds, "I am <em>very</em> loyal."</p><p>Bill pushes down the inclination to childishly roll his eyes at him. "Please. If you ever got married, you'd be back to your old ways faster than…what is that?"</p><p>Now, the reason for Bill's sudden question is because Ricardo has chosen this moment to lift his left hand into the air and flutter his fingers at him, showing off a simple golden band on the fourth finger of his hand, which can only be one thing.</p><p>"You were saying, English curse-breaker?" Ricardo simpers, lifting a brow.</p><p>Bill is currently too surprised to say much of anything at the moment, which is why the lift ends up arriving at the third floor before he can do anything but stare in shock at the band on Ricardo's finger.</p><p>"You – you're – not – you – "</p><p>Ricardo snickers and steps off the lift. Bill, despite this not being his floor, steps off after him.</p><p>"You're <em>married?"</em> Bill chokes.</p><p>Ricardo bursts out into laughter and dramatically wipes nonexistent tears from his eyes. <em>"Dios mío, </em>did you really not know? I would have thought Josie told you," he purrs, eyeing Bill shrewdly even though his laughter. When Bill scowls at him, Ricardo snorts, "I have been married almost a year, now. Alas, Josie had her chance and lost it. She will have to resign herself to being with <em>you,</em> I suppose."</p><p>Bill, reeling with shock, splutters, "Wait a moment, you weren't wearing a wedding ring on the expedition – "</p><p>Ricardo sighs at him as if he thinks Bill is an idiot (he does) and drawls, "You should never bring gold to an ancient Incan temple." Then, waving his hand, he shrugs, "I thought Josie told you I was taken. It is flattering that you are so interested, of course, but I have a <em>loyal heart – "</em></p><p>Bill is so surprised that he doesn't even care that Ricardo just brought his sexuality up for question, and merely stares at him.</p><p>"Anyway," Ricardo says, waving his hand, "I have come to say goodbye to Josie. I am catching a portkey back to Peru in a few hours."</p><p>Bill raises an eyebrow at him and points out, "You literally just had breakfast with her. You could've said goodbye then."</p><p>Ricardo, though, just sighs at him and impatiently replies, "Yes, but I also wanted to see you before I left, to remind you that my threat is still in effect should you ever hurt Josie."</p><p>For a moment, Bill just blinks at him in confusion, until…</p><p>"Really?" Bill dryly asks, now recalling Ricardo's words about breaking his 'wand' in half. He eyes the Peruvian with an unimpressed expression, to which Ricardo smirks at.</p><p>"Well like I said, there won't be much to break, but – "</p><p>"Oh just go back to Peru already," Bill mutters, and turns back to the lift to continue on his way to his office.</p><p>Ricardo laughs. As Bill presses the button for the doors to open, though, he ends up being surprised once again when Ricardo says, "I do not think it will be necessary anyway. I am glad that Josie is happy, even if it is with a blind idiot like you."</p><p>And then Ricardo holds out his hand to shake his. Bill pauses for half a moment before sighing and accepting the gesture, shaking Ricardo Vasquez's hand.</p><hr/><p>Catalina's trial ends up going rather well. Artie is questioned profusely by the Wizengamot to ensure that he really was under the influence of the Imperio curse. His testimony, as well as the paperwork supplied by the nurses from St. Mungo's, makes it clear enough that he was. If that isn't enough evidence in itself, the Incan coins that Catalina had stolen from Josie had been found on her person upon being brought into the Ministry, which only serves to build a stronger case against her.</p><p>A raid of her shop also brings to light other charges, which Josie could never have anticipated. Besides Catalina's possession of the Moondrops, which are themselves an illegal drug bought and sold on the black market, it turns out that the majority of items for sale in <em>Tesoros del Viejo Mundo </em>are in fact stolen goods. It's clear enough that, had Josie not stumbled upon Artie and discovered Catalina's location, the witch would have added the Incan coins to her vast repertoire. This is, apparently, what she does: travel the world, constantly moving from country to country to ensure that she doesn't get caught, and selling those items that she had managed to swindle from the poor souls who had made deals with her. She had indeed been on her way to South America to repeat the process before the Aurors had caught up with her, carrying the entirety of her stolen possessions in an extendable suitcase and waiting for her illegal portkey to wisp her away to safety.</p><p>Even if Artie's testimony had fallen short, Catalina would have still been sentenced. With Artie's testimony, however, her sentence is far more severe than it otherwise would have been. The use of an Unforgivable Curse, especially in these dark times, means a lifetime sentence.</p><p>Both Bill and Arthur accompany Josie to the trial, where Josie is also asked to give testimony against Catalina. Before the judges, she describes her situation, how Catalina had lied to her about her curse, how she had given her Moondrops without informing her of what they were in hopes of hooking Josie onto them, and how she had attacked her in her room at the Leaky Cauldron in hopes of securing the ancient Incan coins in Josie's possession. It is a tiring thing to recount. By the time she returns to the bench beside Bill, she's exhausted.</p><p>The verdict rolls around in her favor, though, after about another hour, and by the time Catalina receives her sentence, it's nearing the end of the day. Not even Catalina's fierce glare can upset Josie, who at this point is too tired to care. The knowledge that Catalina will be locked up for good does wonders.</p><p>"I'm glad that went well," Arthur says as they file out of the court room. Bill follows behind his father, his hand grasping Josie's. They linger in the hallway for a moment as the judges begin to sweep from the room, their robes fluttering behind them as they head back to their offices several floors above.</p><p>"One thing I don't understand is how the Aurors thought to look into Catalina's stolen goods," Josie says as they step off to the side. "I mean, how did they know to even check to see that they were stolen to begin with?"</p><p>Arthur opens his mouth to respond, but it is another voice who ultimately gives Josie the answer to her question.</p><p>"We already knew that the witch was involved in the drug market. It wasn't that much of a stretch," Vivian Blair drawls as she comes to a halt beside the group. She adjusts her sweeping robes and sends Josie a calm, hooded look.</p><p>Josie glances at Vivian and sends her a small smile. She's still a bit unsure of the witch, to be honest, but Vivian has been quite helpful during the days leading up to the trial, assisting Josie with coming up with a proper case against Catalina.</p><p>"I suppose that's true," Josie concedes. "…Thanks for all your help, by the way. I, er, assume you'll send me a bill for your services – ?"</p><p>"That won't be necessary," Vivian cuts in with a wave of her hand. "I was happy to assist. Besides," she adds with a slight smirk, "Sirius rather likes you, you know. If I hadn't offered to help, I'm sure he would have been quite disappointed."</p><p>At this, Josie raises her eyebrows in confusion.</p><p>Vivian's smirk grows a touch wider when she explains, "It's your style. I think he appreciates your knowledge of those muggle rock bands. Regardless though, I'm sure you both want to head home." She politely says, "I'll see you all at the next meeting."</p><p>And then she strides off, rejoining the witches and wizards as they return to the upper floors. They stare after her for some moments before Arthur sighs, "Well, I should be getting back to the Burrow. Molly will be worried. Speaking of, I'm sure she'll want to celebrate the success of the trial, Josie." Then, smiling a bit wider, he adds, "And also to celebrate the fact that you and Bill are together. She's very pleased."</p><p>He sends his son a look, and Bill sighs. Under his breath, he mutters, "I can imagine…"</p><p>After Arthur takes his leave, Bill and Josie start walking to the Ministry lobby to floo back to his flat. They're just about to reach for the floo powder when Artie bustles after them, calling Josie's name. She turns to see him hurrying towards her, waving his hand and glancing over his shoulder, where two nurses from St. Mungo's are following, looking a bit disgruntled.</p><p>"Josie," he says when he reaches them, "listen, I'm due to return to St. Mungo's for the remainder of the week – more of those blasted healing charms and whatnot – but I just wanted to tell you – if you ever get cursed on the job again, you'd better bloody tell me instead of stubbornly keeping it to yourself for so long."</p><p>Josie, feeling a bit chagrined, rubs the back of her neck. "Yeah…I reckon I probably should've told you ages ago…"</p><p>Artie huffs at her. The nurses finally catch up and begin pulling him away, but he manages to shout, "And maybe next time you can let me know if you've got a crazy witch stalking you, so I can prepare myself!"</p><p>Bill snorts out a laugh. Josie elbows him.</p><p>"It's not funny," she mutters, but he only loops an arm around her shoulders and leans over to kiss her temple.</p><p>"It's a little funny," he says.</p><p>She nudges him off of her and strides to the fireplace with a huff.</p><p>"It's not."</p><p>"I mean, it sort of is – "</p><p>"Let's just get home already," she interrupts, and Bill, well, he can't argue with that.</p>
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<a name="section0021"><h2>21. Never Refuse Molly Weasley's Cooking</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This is the last full length chapter. I'll be posting the epilogue on Tuesday, which will include a sneak peak into the plot of Charlie's story. More info on that to come. In the meantime, hope you all enjoy the fluffy scenes you are about to read :)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  <strong>Chapter Twenty One | Never Refuse Molly Weasley's Cooking</strong>
</p><p>Josie wouldn't claim to be nervous about going to the Burrow for dinner. A few months ago, she would've been, but things have blown over since then. Molly is no longer upset about her having kept her distance from the family, and the rest of them have all heard Josie's reasons by now. Well, everyone except for Percy, who has disowned his parents and siblings in favor of climbing the ladder of the corporate world. Bill has loads to say about that, and none of it good, but he wouldn't dare bring it up around his mum. Molly has taken Percy's disownment in a manner that anyone would except, and oftentimes bursts into tears whenever his name is mentioned at all. Those tears aren't anything like <em>these,</em> though.</p><p>"Josie!"</p><p>"Er…hi, Molly," Josie says, patting her on the arm. She's not entirely sure if the action is meant as a form of affection or simply because she's trying to silently tell Molly that she can't breathe.</p><p>Bill clears his throat and smirks, but doesn't try to help her. She sends him a look over his mum's shoulder that he pretends not to see.</p><p>"I've been trying to get Bill to bring you over for months now!" Molly exclaims, and shoots her son a look as well (which he also pretends not to see). She shepherds Josie into the sitting room and says, "It's lovely to see you again, dear. I'm making your favorite – roast beef and yorkshire pudding." Then, beaming, she pats Josie's hand and opens her mouth to say something more, but a loud clattering sound interrupts her and she bustles back into the kitchen to check on everything.</p><p>Josie lifts her eyebrows at the other Weasleys, who are lounging around the sitting room. Fred and George are playing a game of Exploding Snap by the fireplace. Ginny is sitting beside a bushy-haired girl on the couch, who has a book propped up in her lap and is looking at Josie curiously. Ron is watching the twins' game with another boy, who Josie immediately recognizes despite never having met him before.</p><p>"You must be Harry," Josie greets. "Bill's told me all about you – and you, Hermione I take it?" She glances at the bushy-haired girl and sends her a smile.</p><p>Hermione sends her a polite smile, eyes still blazing with curiosity, and replies, "Yes, we've heard about you, too. It's Josie, right?"</p><p>Josie nods and sits down beside Bill, who has taken up residence on the other couch and has made himself quite comfortable. "I hope he hasn't told you anything bad," she mutters, mainly at Bill, who sends her an innocent look.</p><p>"Bad? Never," he responds, grinning crookedly.</p><p>She narrows her eyes at him suspiciously. They've been friends for so long that he'd got plenty of embarrassing stories about her, and vice versa. She wouldn't put it past him to dredge up a story she'd rather forget.</p><p>"If you want bad, we've got loads of stories too," Fred reminds her from across the room. "Like that time we locked you in the shed and you tried to hex us, but it backfired on you – "</p><p>"Okay, okay," Josie sits up, "let's not relive the past!"</p><p>Bill laughs and sighs nostalgically. "That was the highlight of my summer."</p><p>She elbows him in retribution, then turns back to the twins and sends them a dangerous smile. They see it, and pause in the middle of their game to eye her cautiously.</p><p>"Now Josie," Fred (she thinks) begins.</p><p>"You know how our mum is," George (she assumes) continues.</p><p>"She's like a bloodhound, sniffing out the truth – "</p><p>"We were powerless, see? She just knew, the moment she saw us – "</p><p>"That you two were rolling around on the couch like randy teenagers – "</p><p>Bill coughs, Josie blushes, and Ginny rolls her eyes.</p><p>In a very to-the-point voice, Ginny declares, "That's not true. The moment you stepped through the door, you couldn't wait to tell us."</p><p>Fred and George promptly exclaim, "Oi, that's a lie!"</p><p>"Well sort of," George says.</p><p>"Yeah, I mean, if you'd paid us to keep our silence, we would've tried harder," Fred adds with a shrug.</p><p>Josie glowers at them and stands up, pulling her leather jacket about her frame and exuding a dangerous aura that has the twins backing towards the sitting room door. They don't look afraid of her, of course – there's hardly anything in the world that makes the twins second-guess themselves. No, instead, they're wearing huge, wicked grins, as if the sight of her annoyance is highly amusing to them.</p><p>"You know, there's an Incan curse that I discovered a few years back. It makes your organs shrivel up inside your body," Josie says, advancing towards them.</p><p>Hermione, Ron, and Harry watch with growing smirks, clearly amused. Meanwhile, Bill puts his hands behind his head and leans back.</p><p>"At first, you're perfectly fine, and then," Josie snaps her fingers, "your lungs collapse and turn into dust. Do you want to see how it works?"</p><p>Fred hums, "Now that you mention it, Josie, you could have some interesting ideas for new products."</p><p>"Shriveling Organs," George muses, rubbing his jaw, "that does have a nice ring to it."</p><p>Josie smirks, "And you always test your products on yourselves first, am I right? Come here, then, I'll show you how it works – "</p><p>The twins back out of the room wearing matching expressions of amusement, not appearing to be very concerned. Josie makes quick work of that, though, when she disappears after them. Soon, the occupants of the sitting room can hear them loudly clamoring up the stairs to the sound of Fred and George yelping as Josie presumably gets them back for telling their mother about her and Bill.</p><p>"Well, if you ask me, they deserve to be knocked around a bit," Hermione sniffs, recalling all too well the many evenings she had caught them testing their products out on the first year students over the course of this past year. Harry and Ron exchange a look but remain silent, and Ginny snorts to herself.</p><p>"Seeing as she initially threatened to feed them to the gnomes, I'd say they're getting off lightly," Bill shrugs, then stands up and heads into the kitchen to see if his mum needs any help.</p><p>Harry grimaces a bit and mumbles, "So…we shouldn't get on Josie's bad side, then, I take it?" He glances over at Ron with a lifted brow.</p><p>Ron grins. His only response is, "Well she <em>is</em> a curse-breaker. I'll bet she wasn't lying about that organ-shriveling curse."</p><p>Mr. Weasley comes home from work soon after. After a quick greeting, he heads upstairs to change his robes and then everyone sits down for dinner. Fred and George are looking marginally less amused – they keep shooting affronted glances at Josie, who smiles sweetly at them whenever she catches them at it. Arthur looks a bit confused at this, but he doesn't comment and instead turns to Josie and smiles, "So, welcome to the family, Josie."</p><p>The twins cackle to themselves at what they apparently deem to be 'justice' as Josie's face reddens.</p><p>"Er…thanks," she responds, then shoots Fred and George sharp looks and assumingly kicks them under the table, because they both wince and shut up.</p><p>Molly appears to be on her best behavior, though she keeps sending Bill and Josie wide grins as the food is passed around and everyone loads their plates up. She looks like she's about to burst when Bill hands Josie the bowl of peas – a truly romantic gesture, to be sure. It's a good thing that Bill doesn't try filling Josie's plate for her, or Molly might've exploded.</p><p>"So you're a curse-breaker too, then?" Harry asks Josie as they all start eating.</p><p>Ron, who is sitting beside him, says, "She works in South America, mainly. It's way cooler than what Bill does. I mean, there're only so many tombs you can go through, right?"</p><p>Bill rolls his eyes at his younger brother and mutters to Josie, "After he came to Egypt a few years back, he's decided that he's seen all there is to see."</p><p>Josie smirks at him and breezily responds, "You're absolutely right, Ron. My job is much cooler than Bill's." She looks rather smug, which only makes Bill roll his eyes at her, this time.</p><p>"Might want to watch your back, Josephine," Bill murmurs to her as Ron starts explaining more about what a curse-breaker does to a curious Harry. He catches her eye and raises an eyebrow at her.</p><p>Josie raises one right back and turns to face him. She drawls, "Or what, William?"</p><p>He doesn't respond in words, though. His eyes flash at her just so, and heat crowds through her at the look he sends her. Or what, indeed.</p><p>"Mum, how many grandkids did you say you wanted?" George innocently wonders, catching sight of the way Bill is looking at Josie.</p><p>Fred smirks and explains, "She was just talking about it this afternoon. How'd she phrase it?"</p><p>In a high-pitched voice, George gushes, "I'll <em>finally</em> be a grandmother! I want no less than a dozen grandchildren!"</p><p>Bill promptly starts coughing. Josie, reddening again, huffs at the twins but remains silent. As for Molly, she snaps, "I did <em>not</em> say that – Josie dear, there's no need to hurry on my account."</p><p>It's Josie's turn to start coughing.</p><p>After that, thankfully, the conversation turns to Arthur's work. Molly asks him how his day had gone and, as he responds, Josie turns to Hermione and gets to know her a bit better. Upon learning that Hermione is a muggleborn like herself, they both hit it off. The only one who is missing, besides Percy (Bill had reminded her not to mention him), is Charlie.</p><p>"Oh, we met Charlie the summer before fourth year," Hermione tells her. "He brought the dragons over from Romania for the first task."</p><p>Josie remembers hearing about Charlie's part to play in the Triwizard Tournament, though she unfortunately hadn't been able to take time off to see any of it herself, or to see Charlie, for that matter. It's been several years since she last saw him actually.</p><p>"I heard he was here a few months ago," Josie says.</p><p>Arthur nods. "He tries to visit every once in a while – more so lately, what with him being in the Order."</p><p>"There'll be no discussing that right now, though," Molly says with a glance towards Ginny, who looks a bit frustrated. Molly doesn't say anything further though, and just clears away the dinner dishes. She retrieves the large chocolate cake she had baked that afternoon and the topic moves to other things, though it doesn't stray very far from current events.</p><p>When they've finished eating, Molly seems to realize what time it is. In a worried voice, she murmurs, "It's starting to get dark. You should both head back – you too, Fred, George. I don't want any of you caught outside once the sun goes down."</p><p>Arthur gives Josie a one-armed hug as Molly rushes to dish out a few plates of leftovers. "You'll come back for dinner soon, I hope," she says warmly. "Oh it's so good to see you, Josie. I'm so glad everything is working out now…" Then, pulling Josie aside, she hugs her tightly and gushes, "I always knew you'd be a part of the family, dear."</p><p>Josie's cheeks heat up at that. So does Bill's, who had heard his mum's words and is once again pretending that he hadn't. They take their leave quickly after that, saying goodbye to the others before stepping outside. Josie hooks her arm around his arm in preparation for side-apparation, and Bill pulls her a bit closer even though it isn't necessary. They make no mention of his mum's last words, though they do send each other quiet smiles before vanishing with a crack.</p><p>"Want a beer?" Bill wonders after they step into his flat. He strides across the small sitting room and into the kitchen, shucking off his jacket as he goes.</p><p>"Sure," Josie replies, pulling herself onto the counter as he opens the fridge. She watches him wave his wand at the bottles. The caps shoot off and he makes a show of catching them. She shakes her head at him. "You're such a despicable show-off," she informs him as he hands her a bottle.</p><p>Bill laughs at her and taps the lip of his beer bottle against hers. "Why thank you," he responds, sending her a smirk. After he takes a sip, sighs, and says, "I'm glad that's over with."</p><p>Then, setting his beer bottle onto the counter, Bill crowds closer to her to sweep his arms around her and murmur, "So how many times did my mum gush at you? I counted about a dozen."</p><p>Josie laughs. She reaches up to run her hands through his hair, loosening the tie and tangling her fingers into the fiery strands. In a musing tone, Josie hums, "Mmm…I'm sure it was more than a dozen…are we counting before dinner as well?"</p><p>It takes Bill a moment to respond to her, mainly because he's a bit overcome with the way she's scratching her nails gently over his scalp. "…We definitely are," he murmurs, trying to keep his voice steady but failing somewhat.</p><p>Josie catches his eye. The emotion she sees therein has her heart thudding in her chest.</p><p>"Bill…" she begins, "remember when I said I wanted to take things slow?"</p><p>He pauses. Lifting an eyebrow at her, he murmurs, "Yeah…?" There's a look in his eye that tells her he knows what she's about to say. The corner of his mouth edges up.</p><p>So does hers. Josie clears her throat and admits, "I'm not really sure why I said that."</p><p>Bill grins at her. With a low chuckle, he reminds her, "I'm okay with going at whatever pace you want, Josie."</p><p>Their eyes meet, and she nudges closer to him. His breath wavers against her lips, which part just so as she breathes, "It's just that I've wanted you for so long, and now that I actually have you, it feels so surreal."</p><p>She looks down at his mouth and wets her lips. Bill exhales slowly. It would be a lie to say that he isn't slightly overwhelmed by her. Perhaps more than slightly. His fingers slide up her back, moving closer to murmur, "Josie, we've got plenty of time to figure this out. There's no need to rush into anything." He pauses, reaching up to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear and adding, "You've waited for me for years. I think I can wait a little bit longer for you."</p><p>She rests her forehead against his and smiles.</p><p>"…Sometimes I think you're too good to be true, Billy," she whispers, her breath fanning out over his mouth.</p><p>He swallows slightly, but then chuckles, "Sometimes I think the same thing, Jos."</p><p>And just like that, the moment drops away and Josie is laughingly shoving him back, only he doesn't really want to go and merely shuffles back into her, chuckling as his arms spin around her waist and he buries his face against her neck.</p><p>"…D'you think the twins would interrupt us again if I kissed you?" he murmurs hopefully. Even as he asks, his lips brush against her neck, placing brief kisses along the line of her throat.</p><p>Josie draws back, catches his eye, and mutters, "If they do, I really will feed them to the gnomes."</p><p>Then she twists her fingers into his hair and pulls his head back just so, and Bill's eyes flutter closed as her mouth descends on his. She tangles her fingers into his hair and heaves him closer, hooking her legs around his waist as she sits on top of the counter. His response to her move is to heave her closer to the edge of it. He tilts his head to kiss her deeper, breathing out with a low hum when her fingernails scratch against his scalp.</p><p>"Does this count as going too fast?" he wonders, though he seems quite distracted and doesn't appear to care if she answers him or not. His voice has a breathy quality to it, shallow and low.</p><p>Josie exhales slowly and tightens her legs around him. In an equally breathy voice, she mumbles, "To be honest Bill, I'm not really sure I care one way or the other right now…"</p><p>He grins against her and chuckles, "Yeah, neither do I."</p><p>She grins too. A slow, blissful fire burns through her, spreading beneath her skin and growing with each pass of his lips. It is low and warm and sets some integral part of her into a restless frenzy. She feels it in every corner of her; every edge and angle. He must, too, because before she's quite prepared for it, Bill is suddenly grasping her hips and pulling her off the counter, taking her weight against him and walking them into the sitting room. Josie, at first rather taken aback by his move and the boldness behind it, lets out a shaky breath. But Bill doesn't let her fall, and she quickly hooks her legs around his waist to keep her balance as the fire thuds hotter.</p><p>Perhaps they are moving a bit fast, but the thought doesn't have time to sink in before Bill is collapsing onto the couch and pulling Josie into his lap. His hands dart over her waist, pushing beneath the fabric of her shirt to trace over the skin beneath it. His head tilts back just so as her mouth converges on his, and the combination of his touch and the way he kisses her quickly makes her forget that she had wanted to take things slow at all.</p><p>She is too swept up in him to care. Her heart is beating dizzyingly and her thoughts have become molten and slow, unable to linger on any one thing. Well, anything but this:</p><p>The feeling of his hands against the small of her back, his fingertips warm, his hold firm. The way he can't seem to decide whether to keep his hands where they are or to move them, which he does every so often, smoothing his palms over her thighs and lifting a hand to drag it through her hair. The sound of his breath shuddering, hot and shaky, against her lips. The searing gleam of his eyes when they occasionally open, full of heat and quiet fire.</p><p>The fast, hungry movement of their kiss slows somewhat after a while, and transforms into something almost too delicate to put into words. It becomes composed of a sort of tender fluency that has them sighing out and smiling at each other. When their eyes clash again, the fire has transformed to a banked state, as one that is still burning but not quite as intense, and Josie presses her forehead against his with a soft, breathy laugh.</p><p>"This is starting to get a bit difficult, really," he informs her as she slips off his lap and stands up.</p><p>Confused, Josie glances over at him to ask, "What is?"</p><p>Bill's eyes flash. "Living together and trying to keep my hands to myself."</p><p>His admission does several things to her. It makes heat crowd through her again, filling her with the temptation to drag him close once more. She can tell that he wouldn't complain if she did. There's something in his expression that seems hungry and wanting. However – and perhaps it's because of the tone his voice takes on, all petulant and sullen – it also makes Josie snicker a bit as she eyes him.</p><p>"So now you understand why I didn't want to move in with you before," she smugly responds, sounding annoyingly pleased that the tables have been turned. Serves him right, really. She is entirely unapologetic to his plight.</p><p>Bill's mouth drops open slightly. Then, just as fast, a mischievous smile lifts his mouth, and he murmurs, "Josephine Devonport, how scandalous of you, lusting after me…"</p><p>It's Josie's turn to drop her mouth. She splutters at him for several moments before repeating, <em>"Lusting?</em> I never said anything about – Bill, don't you dare – "</p><p>"Infringing upon my innocent nature – "</p><p>"Please, there's nothing innocent about you!"</p><p>" – And in my own flat, too – "</p><p>"Maybe I should feed <em>you</em> to the gnomes!"</p><p>Bill breaks out into loud laughter, and after a moment of indignant silence, Josie joins in.</p>
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<a name="section0022"><h2>22. Epilogue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>About a week before the start of term for Ron, Harry, Hermione, and Ginny, the Weasleys head to Diagon Alley to buy school supplies. Ginny will be going into her fifth year at Hogwarts, and the others into their sixth. Ron and Harry have grown so much over the summer that they need to buy new school robes, so Hagrid and Josie accompany them to Madam Malkin's while Bill, Arthur, and Molly go to Flourish and Blotts for the school books. Bill and Josie hadn't originally planned on coming along with them, but that was before Josie heard that they were all heading over to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes to see Fred and George's joke shop. Josie had wanted to come along, having not seen the joke shop yet either. It's clear that, only several months after opening, the twins are doing very well for themselves.</p><p>"Wonder Witch love potions and beauty charms," one of the twins crows, resting an elbow on Josie's shoulder as he leans forward to see what she's looking at. He plucks a small vial of pink potion from the shelf and waggles his eyebrows at her. "Just one sip and you'll have your crush fawning all over you for a full 24 hours. Not that you need it, of course," he says with a smirk.</p><p>The other twin (Josie isn't even going to try to identify them) appears on her other side and adds, "Yeah, we've never seen our brother so pathetic, even when he fancied himself in love with Fleur."</p><p>Josie laughs at this and glances over her shoulder to see where Bill has gotten off to. Molly and Arthur are nearby with Ginny, and Ron's got his arms loaded up with items. She doesn't see Bill at first, but then catches sight of his long haired ponytail on the upper level with Harry and Hermione.</p><p>"And what's this?" Josie asks, turning her attention back to the shelf in front of her. She finds herself rather amused at the Wonder Witch line. Curious, too, though she wouldn't ever admit it to the twins. Having never been a very girly type of person, she's never bothered with this sort of thing before, so it all goes over her head a bit.</p><p>Fred (she thinks) says, "That, my dear Josie, happens to be some of our best sellers."</p><p>George (she assumes) nods, "Beauty potions that will zap the zits right off of you."</p><p>"Fade warts."</p><p>"Make you look altogether glamorous."</p><p>"And all the other necessities that young witches require to get through their school years – "</p><p>"Or so we're told, anyway," they both finish, shrugging nonchalantly.</p><p>Fred swings an arm over her shoulders and leads her away from the Wonder Witch products. As he does, he says, "But <em>you</em> require something else."</p><p>On her other side, George adds, "Something that will give you a proper laugh."</p><p>They pause at a shelf by the stairwell and the twins exchange smirks over her head.</p><p>"Something you can pull on Bill whenever he's annoying you," Fred says, and thrusts a box into her hands.</p><p>Josie raises an eyebrow at it and reads, <em>'Cussing Teacups'. </em>She turns her raised eyebrow to Fred and George, who are gauging her reaction with expectant eyes.</p><p>"Well?" one of them demands.</p><p>The other asks, "What do you think?"</p><p>"It's a play on the legendary Biting Teacups, but with our signature spin."</p><p>"Very useful when you're angry at someone but you don't want to be too obvious about it."</p><p>"Just invite them over for a cup of tea and the teacup will do the rest."</p><p>Josie sarcastically snorts, "Yeah, because a cursing teacup isn't obvious at all."</p><p>Fred (<em>is</em> it Fred, though?) grins, "Ah, but that's the beauty of it."</p><p>George (or is it?) grins too, "It's <em>so</em> obvious that it doesn't <em>seem</em> obvious."</p><p>This logic naturally makes no sense, but then again, the twins very rarely do.</p><p>Fred nods, "Plus, these little things are very inventive with their insults."</p><p>George adds, "Yeah, just listen to this."</p><p>Then, withdrawing his wand from the pocket of his magenta robes, George waves it at the demo teacup that is sitting innocently on the shelf besides the boxes. It appears exactly like a normal teacup, until of course it begins to screech, <em>"KNOB-HEADED NINNY! DIMWITTED ARSE-UGLY MAGGOT! YOU LOOK LIKE A FLOBBERWORM!"</em></p><p>Fred prods the teacup with a smirk. "It gets better though, Josie, because you can program it to insult specific people – "</p><p>The rest of his words are drowned out when the teacup hollers, <em>"WILLIAM ARTHUR WEASLEY, YOU LONG-HAIRED PILLOCK!"</em></p><p>Josie bursts out into laughter just as a familiar head of red hair leans over the railing above them and dryly inputs, <em>"That</em> insult again?"<br/>Josie, though, just casts a glance at Bill and bursts out into laughter all over again. He shakes his head at her, even as an amused smile edges over his mouth. The twins, meanwhile, have turned their attention to the crowd that has gathered around the shelf upon hearing the screeching, and are expertly selling the teacups with wild gesticulations.</p><p>"The insults can be adjusted to suit more tender ears!"</p><p>"Change the levels of the insults by using several simple spells, all found in the accompanying handbook!"</p><p>"Choose between 'Boring Piece of Dung', 'Intermediate Slander', and 'Insult King'!"</p><p>"Only five galleons for a single teacup – "</p><p>" – And nine for a set of two – "</p><p>" – So that you can insult each other simultaneously over a cup of tea – "</p><p>As they continue raving about their Cussing Teacups and begin handing boxes out to interested customers, Josie makes her way to the upper landing where Bill is leaning against the railing. He sends her a look which Josie grins at, but ultimately brushes off being called a 'long-haired pillock' for the second time in his life. Instead, he takes her hand and pulls her over to a curtained area off to the side.</p><p>"Look at this, Jos," he says, drawing the curtain back and striding into a small room. "I thought it'd interest you. Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder."</p><p>Her interest indeed sparked, Josie leans forward to eye the black powder that is being sold in small cloth pouches. The sign above the display says, <em>'Death Eaters on your tail? Need to make a quick escape? Just throw down a pinch of Instant Darkness Powder and waltz out of danger.'</em> Underneath this, it says <em>'Imported from Peru'.</em></p><p>Josie hums, "That's fascinating…looks like the twins have been branching out a bit." She glances around the small curtained room, seeing Shield Hats, Cloaks, and Gloves, small objects called Decoy Detonators, and a great many other things that seem to be more centered around self-defense. Of course, they wouldn't be invented by Fred and George if they didn't also have some sort of amusing anecdote surrounding their purpose, but it does seem as though they have had quite a few new ideas of late.</p><p>Bill crosses his arms and glances around the room, too. "They were telling me how the Ministry's ordered about five hundred of those Shield Hats. They're doing really good business, considering."</p><p>Josie nods, "I'm really happy for them. This is an amazing shop…did you see the 'Dung Eater' display on the ground floor?" She laughs at the look on Bill's face and explains, "It's really hilarious. Come on, I'll show you."</p><p>They head back downstairs towards the display, only for Molly to come bustling towards them to worriedly ask, "Have you seen Ron, Harry, and Hermione? They've disappeared somewhere…"</p><p>Bill and Josie frown and glance at each other. Before they can respond though, Molly worries, "Those three! Always running off with that cloak…I keep telling them how dangerous it is but do they listen?" Then, pausing briefly, she turns to Bill and Josie and says, "You know, dears, perhaps you should move into the Burrow for a while…I don't like the thought of you both in Diagon Alley…it's bad enough that the twins live here now…and besides, you'd be easier to contact should the Order need you…"</p><p>"Mum, there they are," Bill interrupts, pointing to Ron. Him, Harry, and Hermione are talking to Arthur, who is looking at them with a skeptical expression on his face, no doubt listening to whatever excuse they had come up with to explain their absence. The sight of them distracts Molly and she bustles off, leaving Bill and Josie alone. They glance at each other.</p><p>"…She does have a point, I s'pose," Bill shrugs.</p><p>Josie does, too. "Well, if it gets really bad around here, we can always think about it."</p><p>Living at the Burrow doesn't sound awful, but she's definitely gotten used to the peace and quiet of living on her own, and she knows full well that even without the rest of the Weasley siblings at home, it will still be difficult to be alone with Bill in any capacity. If it really does get worse in Diagon Alley though, at least they've got somewhere else to go.</p><p>About ten minutes later, Ginny has managed to convince her mum to purchase one of the fluffy Pygmy Puffs, which she has named 'Arnold' and already seems very fond of the little lavender puffskein. Meanwhile, Ron is still sulking after Fred and George refuse to give him a discount, and is grouped together with Harry and Hermione as he complains about it. Molly is keeping a close eye on them, casting glances outside to where Hagrid is waiting beyond the shop's threshold.</p><p>When Bill and Josie approach them, Arthur sends them a slightly harried smile and says, "We'll be returning to the Burrow in a few minutes, I expect. It's starting to get dark already. You two should head home too."</p><p>And so, after several goodbyes, Arthur and Molly drags their younger children outside and disappear with Hagrid. Bill and Josie soon take their leave as well, though the twins make one last attempt to sell Josie a Cussing Teacup on their way out.</p><p>"Are you sure you don't want one?"</p><p>"It'd be a great way to wake dear William up."</p><p>To this, Josie had only smirked and responded, "I've got loads of ways to wake <em>dear William</em> up, George, but thanks anyhow."</p><p>Bill had promptly blushed, Fred had pretended to vomit, and George had shaken his head at her as if disappointed. "Honestly, no imagination," he had sighed as they left, but hadn't argued the point, evidently not interested in hearing what Josie's approach to waking their brother up actually is.</p><p>Upon arriving back at the flat, Josie goes off to take a shower and Bill checks to see what they've got for dinner. Their choices are a bit dismal. Grocery shopping has been a bit of a challenge of late, what with people buying up so many things so as to stockpile items for the future. No one wants to leave their homes with the Death Eaters at large. Still, by the time Josie returns to the kitchen some twenty minutes later, he's whipping something up from the leftovers they'd had the night before and it doesn't look half-bad.</p><p>Josie curls her arms around his waist and sighs, "That was a fun day. It's been a while since we spent so much time out of the flat."</p><p>Bill hums in agreement. "I just hope Fred and George are being careful. Did you see my mum's face when she saw the poster for their 'You-No-Poo' product?"</p><p>Josie snorts a bit. "Yeah, I did. They're very inventive, I'll give them that."</p><p>"Fred and George have never been the sort to back down from a joke, but I'm not sure it's a good idea to come up with those sorts of products…"</p><p>She shrugs, "I suppose, but it's not as if the Death Eaters frequent joke shops. Besides, the twins are old enough to make their own decisions."</p><p>Bill glances at her. She reaches over to push some of his hair behind his ear and quietly adds, "There's nothing you can do about it anyway, Bill. If you tried to tell them to take some of those products off the market, they'd never listen."</p><p>He grunts, "Yeah, you're right. It is funny, mind, but I just don't want them to get the wrong sort of attention."</p><p>She hums and says, "I know," and is about to say more when she catches sight of evening edition of The Daily Prophet laying open beside the stove. Bill must have been reading it. The headline is most likely as dour as it always is, these days, but he's turned the newspaper to the middle and is reading an article that has very little to do with the growing darkness of You-Know-Who's regime. Instead, the title of the article is centered around the latest Quidditch scandal, which Josie has admittedly not been keeping up with in lieu of everything else going on.</p><p>She casts it a quick glance before turning back to Bill and smiling. When he sees the smile, he raises an eyebrow at her and wonders, "What is it?"</p><p>But Josie only shrugs and murmurs, "Nothing…I'm just happy, I guess."</p><p>Bill's mouth quirks up into a smile too. The next moment, he's slipping an arm around her waist and dragging her into him with a chuckled, "Are you?"</p><p>Josie laughs and pulls him closer. Her only response is a quiet hum pressed against his shoulder.</p><p>Bill, smiling against her hair, murmurs, "…I'm happy too."</p><p>And it's true, despite the fact that You-Know-Who is only just beginning to gain power; despite the future that will not be easy, and certainly won't always be happy. But perhaps that is the way of the elusive creature we call happiness. Perhaps it exists in the fleeting moments, never here to stay but always lingering on the outskirts of the periphery, waiting for you to reach out and grasp it. They take their dinner into the living room, walking past the newspaper, to do just that.</p><p>
  <em> <strong>The End…for now</strong> </em>
</p><hr/><p>Thank you to everyone who reviewed, followed, and favorited this story. Also, a special and most appreciative thanks to Anne J Black, who translated all of the Spanish in this story. It's been incredibly fun to write Bill and Josie's story and I hope you all enjoyed it as well. The next installment of the Vivicendium side-stories will be coming soon, full of Quidditch anecdotes, dragons, and celebrity press. To those wondering if you will see more of Bill and Josie in the future, they will be in Vivicendium S3 and will possibly be getting their own sequel as well, though everything is still up in the air for now. To those wondering if Ricardo will return, yes, sooner than you may think. To those wondering if Charlie will have sexy flying dragon tattoos in the next story…TBD. Speaking of the next story, sneak peak below.</p><p>Thank you all again for reading,</p><p>CrashingPetals</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Donahue Disgraced, Quidditch Injury Uncovers the Truth</strong>
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  <em>After sustaining serious injuries several months ago at the now-infamous Wasps vs. Cannons match, National Quidditch Star Samantha Donahue of the Wimbourne Wasps has vanished from the public eye on a self-imposed pursuit of obscurity, writes Rosalind Travers, Junior Correspondent. Despite constant questions fielded to Donahue's manager, Anton Salavestru, very little information has come to light regarding the full extent of injuries sustained. Donahue's refusal to comment and subsequent disappearance showcases a proclivity toward egotism that has doubtlessly contributed to her fall from grace. Over the course of her career, her notorious arrogance has vaulted her high into the public view, and not always for the better. Last seen at a pub in central London, Donahue's already besmirched name has been dragged further through the dirt after she was seen instigating a brawl last Saturday. Is this the end of her career? Head of Department of Magical Games and Sports, recently appointed Avenel Barrows, says 'undoubtedly', and adds that the Quidditch League is much better off without Donahue's hopeless vanity. "I've met her a few times," he said, "and the rumors of her arrogance hardly scratch the surface of her character, let me tell you."</em>
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  <em>Only weeks after her accident, the Wasps' head manager has signed on Donahue's ex, Liam Harrington (previously of the Chudley Cannons). Harrington has agreed upon a two-year contract with the Wasps and has recently been in the news because of his messy breakup with Donahue. "She seems great, on the surface," he admitted, "but in reality, she's completely mental. Good for the Wasps, I say. I'm happy to step up and help them finish the season. Sammy's removal from the team will only ensure that it moves in a more promising direction."</em>
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  <em>Harrington's views seem to align with the rest of the team. The manager of the Wasps has declined to comment, but several of the teammates have voiced opinions similar to Harrington's. A once-talented Seeker, Donahue's disappearance has stirred controversy in the Quidditch world and has left many fans outraged. Where has she gone? Perhaps Donahue has finally realized that she is not cut out to play with the professionals after all. The Wimbourne Wasps' new Star Seeker certainly seems to think so.</em>
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  <em> <strong>Samantha Donahue's full story coming soon</strong> </em>
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